— — I 

.,HE PRKSKNTATION BY 
THF PF.OPLE OF VI R- 
•; . of a Copy of HO V- 

DON'S STATUE OF GEORGE 
WASHINGTON to the PEOPLE OF 
THE REPUBLIC OF FRANCE 




^ 









Report of the ( 



OaVJS POT" 



,-.n.r'-—^ I iiimaaw «>»aMii««— 



MSiribri 




# 



George Wasliington 
Thv 1xfonz<^ ropy of Ilowlon's Statiir vliio}, va.t prefinHed to France 



\ 




HE PRESENTATION BY 
THE PEOPLE OF VIR- 
GINIA of a Copy of HOU- 
DON'S STATUE OF GEORGE 
WASHINGTON to the PEOPLE OF 
THE REPUBLIC OF FRANCE 




Report of the Commissioners 



wmmmi^mmmamimBfBim^Bsimmamm^^mmvim^t^ 




Utvimi FlUIIUSt 



RICHMOND: 

DAVIS BOTTOM, SUPEEINTENUENT OF PUBLIC PBINTINQ 
1912 



/a- I'^'b 



rH, !»F ?«=' 

JUN 30 <912 



E^n 



H5- 



4 



Governor's Message 



COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, 
Governob's Office, 
Richmond, Va., February 19, 1912. 

To the General Assembly of Virginia: 

I beg to transmit herewith the report of the Commission appointed by 
me, pursuant to an act approved March 17, 1910, charged with the duty 
of causing to be made a copy of Houdon's Statue of Washington, and pre- 
senting the same on behalf of the people of Virginia to the people of the 
Republic of France. 

Inasmuch as the report contains a great deal of historical information 
and deals with an incident of much interest to all of the people of the Com- 
monwealth, I respectfully recommend that the same be printed with appro- 
priate illustrations, to the end that the history of the presentation of this 
statue and the information in the report contained may be preserved as a 
constant reminder of the cordial and friendly relations which have existed 
between the people of Virginia and the people of France. 

WILLIAM HODGES MANN, 
Oovemor. 



Report of the Commissioners 



To His Excellency, 

William Hodges Mann, 

Governor of Virginia. 

The commissioners, appointed by your Excellency pursuant to an act 
of the General Assembly of Virginia approved March 17, 1910, beg to report 
that they have performed the pleasant duty with which they were charged 
of causing to be made a bronze copy of Houdon's Statue of George Washing- 
ton, and of presenting the same "to the Republic of France as an expression 
of Virginia's cordial admiration and loving regard." 

Immediately upon their appointment, the chairman and Senator Halsey 
(Senator King being unable to accompany them) proceeded to Washington 
and informed the Secretary of State of the act which had been passed by 
the General Assembly of Virginia, asking his advice as to the procedure which 
should be followed. Secretary Knox displayed great interest in the proposed 
presentation of the copy of this famous statue to the people of France, and 
tendered the good offices of the Department of State, which he assured us 
would take pleasure in facilitating our plans in every way possible. He re- 
quested us to address a formal letter to him informing him of the commis- 
sion's wishes in the premises. The Secretary said that while he would com- 
municate to the Government of France the desire of Virginia to make this 
gift, he thought it would be eminently proper for us to take up the matter 
in person with the French Ambassador to the United States, who expected 
to leave Washington on the following day to spend several months in France. 

Accordingly, the members of the commission, accompanied by Hon. James 
Hay, member of Congress from Virginia, called at the French Embassy, 
where they were most graciously and cordially received by Ambassador Jus- 
serand. The chairman informed him of the desire of the people of Virginia 
to give to the people of France this evidence of their lasting appreciation of 
the great part taken by France in the War for American Independence, and 
of the feeling of affection the people of Virginia have always had for the peo- 
ple of France. He said further that no better way of giving expression to 
this feeling could be found than to present to France a statue of George 
Washington, the greatest man America has ever produced, the friend of La 
Fayette and of Rochambeau; a man so greatly admired in France that he 
was commissioned a Lieutenant General in the French Army and made an 
Admiral of France. He recalled, too, that the original of this statue was from 
the chisel of Jean Antoine Houdon, the great French artist, and foremost 
sculptor of his time. 

M. Jusserand had not heard before of the action of the General Assembly, 
and he expressed his personal pleasure at the news the commission brought 



Presentation of a Copy of Houdons Stctwe 



him. He spoke of several visits he had made to Virginia and especially of 
one he had made to Richmond several years before to see this statue of Wash- 
ington, whom he greatly admired. He recalled that not only had Washington 
been accorded the high military honors to which the chairman had referred, 
but that during the First Consulate he had been by public decree declared a 
citizen of France; and that upon his death public meetings were held and 
the same high honors were shown to his memory that would have been ac- 
corded upon the death of a distinguished officer and citizen of France. M. 
Jusserand assured the commission that it would give him great pleasure upon 
his arrival in Paris to communicate to his government the desire of Virginia 
to present this gift, and that upon its acceptance, we would be advised of the 
time and place of its reception and inauguration, appropriate arrangements 
for which would be made. He was especially requested to have designated 
some day on which he could be present and participate in the ceremonies. 

Pursuant to the request of Secretary Knox that a formal communication 
be addressed to him, the chairman, upon his return home, sent the following 
letter: 

NoEFOLK, Va., April 9, 1910. 
To the Honorable, 

The Secbetaet of State, 
Washington, D. C. 
Sib: 

I have the honor to inform you that at the recent session of the 
General Assembly of Virginia a bill was unanimously passed setting 
forth the historic friendship and the cordial relations which have existed 
for more than a century between the people of Virginia and the people 
of France, and directing that a reproduction in bronze be made of 
Houdon's famous statue of Washington, and that the same be presented 
to the people of France "as an expression of Virginia's cordial admira- 
tion and loving regard." 

It was further provided that a commission of three be appointed by 
the Governor of Virginia to present the said reproduction of said statue, 
on behalf of the people of Virginia, to the people of France. Pursuant 
to this enactment the Governor appointed as commissioners, James 
Mann, Don P. Halsey and F. W. King, and directed that they proceed 
to France and make the presentation in the name of the State of Vir- 
ginia. 

The original statue was made by Jean Antoine Houdon, of whom 
Jefferson wrote: "He is without rivalship, the first statuary of this 
age." Houdon came to America to see and study Washington, and in 
October, 1785, spent two weeks as his guest at Mt. Vernon. While there, 
he took a mould of Washington's face and exact measurements of his 
person. He returned to Paris and there created in marble this statue^ 
which was pronounced by LaFayette "a fac simile of Washington's per- 
son." It stands in the place of honor in the center of the rotunda of 
the Capitol at Richmond, and is regarded by our people as a priceless 



of Washington to the People of France 



possession. By artists and historians it is accepted as the standard 
likeness of Washington; and it is regarded not only as a true portrait 
of the most illustrious of all Americans, but as a great and beautiful 
work of art. 

A copy in bronze, pronounced to be a perfect copy of the original, 
has been placed by Virginia in Statuary Hall in the Capitol at Wash- 
ington, and the reproduction which it is now proposed to present to 
the people of France will be cast in the same moulds. 

We can have the statue ready and in position at any time after the 
10th day of August, 1910; and the commission will proceed to France 
and present the same at such time after said date, and at such place, 
as may be designated by the French Government upon its acceptance. 

The commission respectfully requests that you communicate to the 
Government of the Republic of France, through the proper channels, 
the desire of the people of Virginia to present this statue to the people 
of France; and that our Ambassador at Paris represent us in making 
the necessary arrangements for its presentation. 

It is perhaps well to add that after our conference with you on 
Monday last, we called on the French Ambassador for the purpose of 
presenting our compliments and of acquainting him with the action of 
the Virginia General Assembly. He received us most cordially, and 
was enthusiastic in assuring us that his Government would be much 
pleased to accept the gift on behalf of the people of France. I wrote 
Senator Martin an account of our visit to Ambassador Jusserand with 
the request that he communicate the same to you. 

Thanking you on behalf of my associates and myself, I have the 
honor to remain. 

Very respectfully, 

JAMES MANN, 
Chairman. 

The State Department thereupon communicated to the Government of 
the French Republic the desire of the people of Virginia to present this 
statue, and every facility and assistance were afforded to the commissioners 
by the State Department and by the American Ambassador at Paris, Hon. 
Robert Bacon, and the members of the Embassy, especially Mr. A. Bailly- 
Blanchard and Mr. Franklin Mott Gunther. 



Letters of Acceptance 



The following formal letters of acceptance were received from the rep- 
representatives of the French (Government, addressed respectively to the Gov- 
ernor of Virginia, the chairman of the commission, and the American Charge 
d'Affaires at Paris: 



Presentation of a Copy of Houdons Statue 



Washington, le 11 Mai 1910. 
Monsieur le Gouveeneur: 

J'ai I'honneur d'informer Votre Excellence qu'a la suite de la visite 
qui lui a 6te faite au commencement du mois dernier par la Commission 
chargee d'offrir a la R6publique Francgaise une rgplique de la statue 
de WashingtoDi par Houdon, M. Jusserand s'est empress6 de porter a 
la connaissance de M. le Ministre des Affaires Etrang6res la demarche 
si touchante qui avait 6t6 faite aupres de lui, ainsi que la noble pensee 
qui avait donn6 lieu a cette d-marche. 

En m'accusant reception de la lettre de I'Ambassadeur, avec qui il 
doit, pendant le sejour de ce dernier en France, s'entre-tenir de cette 
affaire et prendre une decision relative il la date qui conviendrait le 
mieux pour inauguration du monument dont il s'agit, M. le Ministre 
des Affaires Etrangeres me prie de transmettre sans retard a Votre 
Excellence ses plus sincSres remerciements. 

Le (Jouvernement de la Republique Francaise a ete extrOmement 
sensible a cette marque d'estime des habitants de la Virginie, qui est 
une nouvelle preuve de I'amitie traditionnelle unissant les Etats-Unis 
et la France. 

II tient a faire savoir a Votre Excellence tout le prix qu'il attache 
au temoignage ainsi rendu par I'Assemblee G6nerale de I'Etat de Vir- 
ginie aux sentiments de mutuelle sympathie qui animent les deux 
peuples et qui ne se sont jamais dementis. 

Veuillez agreer, Monsier le Gouverneur, I'assurance de ma con- 
sideration la plus distinguge. 

PIERRE LEFEVRE-PONTALIS, 

Charge d' Affaires. 
Son Excellence, 

L'HoN. Wm. Hodges Mann, 

Gouverneur de la Virginie, 
Richmond, Ta. 

(translation.) 

Washington, D. C, May 11, 1910. 
Monsieur ie Gouverneur: 

I have the honor to inform your Excellency that following the visit 
which was made to him at the commencement of last month by the 
commission charged with offering to the French Republic a replica of 
the Statue of Washington by Houdon, M. Jusserand has hastened to 
bring to the knowledge of the Minister of Foreign Affairs this gift which 
has been so touchingly laid before him, also the noble thought which 
has given birth to this gift. 

Acknowledging receipt of the letter of the Ambassador, with whom 
he will endeavor, during the stay of the latter in France, to take up this 
matter and reach a decision relative to the date that will be most con- 
venient for the inauguration of the monument above mentioned, the 
Minister of Foreign Affairs begs me to transmit without delay to your 
Excellency his most sincere thanks. 



of Washington to the People of France 



The government of the Republic of France is extremely sensible 
of this mark of esteem of the people of Virginia, which is a new proof 
of the traditional friendship uniting the United States and France. 

It remains to make known to your Excellency the great value which 
attaches to the testimony thus rendered by the General Assembly of 
the State of Virginia to the sentiments of mutual esteem which animate 
the two people, and which have never been doubted. 

Permit me to extend, M. le Gouverneur, the assurances of my most 
distinguished consideration. 

PIERRE LEFEVRE-PONTALIS, 
Charge d" Affaires 
To His Excellency, 

Wm. Hodges Mann, Governor of Virginia. 
Richmond, Va. 



Washington, June 7, 1910. 
Col. James Mann, 

Chairman Virginia Commission, 
Norfolk, Va. 
Deae Sib: 

I have been instructed by my government to inform you that the 
French Republic accepts with gratitude the replica of Houdon's Statue 
of Washington, so graciously offered by the State of Virginia. 

The statue will be placed at Versailles on a suitable pedestal or 
base, which will be put in position before the erection of the statue. 
You will therefore not have to take any trouble about a base for the 
statue, which will be provided for. 

The presenting of the statue and inauguration thereof could take 
place in August next, if that time is convenient. The French govern- 
ment will be represented at the ceremonies, and if they take place in 
August, the French Ambassador to the United States, M. Jusserand, 
would be present. 

I would be much obliged to you to kindly acknowledge receipt of 
this communication and let me know if the above suggestions meet with 
the approval of the Virginia commission appointed to present the Statue 
of Washington to the Republic of France. 
I have the honor to be, dear Sir, 

Very truly yours, 

PIERRE LEFEVRE-PONTALIS. 



REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE, 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Paris, July 4, 1910. 
Mb. Bailly-Blan chard. 

Charge d'Affaires of the United States, 
Paris. 
Mb. Charge d'affaires: 

In reply to your communication of June 15th last, I hasten to inform 



Presentation of a Copy of Houdons Statue 



you that I had already been acquainted by our Charge d'Affaires at 
Washington of the desire of the people of the State of Virginia to offer 
to France a reproduction in bronze of the Statue of Washington by 
Houdon which adorns the Capitol at Richmond. 

The government of the Republic has gratefully accepted the gift 
of this statue, and Mr. Lefevre-Pontalis has been instructed to make 
known the great importance which we attach to this manifestation of 
the traditional friendship uniting the two countries. 

I have pleasure in here renewing the expression thereof and in ac- 
quainting you of the esteem in which we hold this new testimony of 
the sentiments of mutual sympathy which animate the two peoples. 

As concerns the realization of this project, I hasten to inform you 
that after an understanding with the administration of the Beaux Arts, 
it has been decided that this statue should be placed at Versailles; 
furthermore, the inauguration of the monument has been fixed for the 
18th of August next. This date, which has been chosen by agreement 
with the American delegation which is to come to France on this oc- 
casion, will enable M. Jusserand to be present at the ceremony. 

Accept, etc. 

S. PICHON. 

The chairman made the following reply to the letter received by him 
from the French Charge d'Affaires: 

Norfolk, Va., June 8, 1910. 
Dear Sir: 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 
the 7th instant, informing me in most courteous terms that the French 
Republic will accept the copy of Houdon's Statue of Washington ten- 
dered to it by the General Assembly of the State of Virginia, and saying 
that the presentation and inauguration thereof could take place in 
August next, if convenient to the Virginia commission. 

The month of August will be entirely agreeable to the members of 
the commission, and we are particularly desirous that a day shall be 
named which will permit, upon the occasion of the inauguration of the 
statue, the presence of M. Jusserand, who has frequently visited Vir- 
ginia, and for whom those of our people who have had the honor to meet 
him, entertain the highest personal regard. I understood M. Jusserand 
to say, when I had the pleasure of meeting him in Washington shortly 
before he left for France, that he expected to sail upon his return on 
August 26th. I would respectfully suggest that the presentation take 
place as late in August as will be comformable to the plans of M. Jus- 
serand, and convenient to the French Government. It will be a favor 
if you will have me advised by cable of the exact date as soon as the 
same is decided upon, in order that the members of the commission 
may perfect their plans and arrange their steamship accommodations. 

The commission is pleased to know that the statue will be placed 
at Versailles, for we remember that it was there that was signed the 
treaty between the United States and Great Britain, which terminated 



M. Armand Falliei es 

President de la RepuhliQUf Francaiar 



Presentation of a Copy of Houdons Stat 



UP 



you that I had already boen acquainted by our Charge dAtf aires at 
Washington of the deislre of the people of the State of Virginia to offer 
to France a reproduction In bronze of the Statue of Washington by 



Houdon which adorne tv 
The. government c; 

of this atatue, an<. 

known the s^o;it i 

the tradli i 
I hav., . . 

quainting you 

the P' ■ ' ~ 



! at Richmond. 

ibJlr has gratefully accopted the gift 

'oeii Inatructfid to make 

this manifestation of 

; tliereof and in ac- 
aew testimony of 

• ■. ----.yiles. 

:n ynu 



S. PICHON. 
vlng reply to the letter received by him 



Dear Sir: 
1 
the 7th iii^ 

Republic will accept t.;. 
derod to It by the GeneJa. - 
that the presentation aod ' 
Augu ' 



?.9'V9iUft'*\ buvv«rvk .111 



a.g 
•^t in 


nbers of 



him, ,?t pereo; -rand 

to !• 'j pleasure lortly 

lipfofo h, H, that ^ .in on 

' u -«%s!r;Utation take 

(le plans of M. Jus- 
seraud, a: <^nt lo the French (.rovsyuroent. It will be a favor 

if you w^li ,_.t? advised by cable of the exact date as soon as the 

same Is decided upon, In order that the members of the commission 
may perf*^ • rlans and arrange their steamship a< '-. 

The . '. Is pleased to know that the statu, 

at Versai •< was there that 

treaty bel - i Great Britain, w. 



of Washington to the People of France 



successfully our Revolutionary War, a consummation for which we 
owe a debt of undying gratitude to our allies, the brave soldiers and 
sailors of France. The commission begs leave to suggest that the ar- 
rangements for the inauguration of the statue be such, if possible, as 
will permit the presence of as many of the descendants of those gallant 
officers and men as can find it convenient to attend. 

There have been many friendly exchanges between France and the 
United States during the past century, but the members of the Virginia 
commission feel that theirs is a signal honor in bearing to France this 
fac simile of the person of General Washington, who was not only the 
Commander-in-Chief of the American patriots, but who also bore com- 
missions as a Lieutenant General in the French Army and as an Ad- 
miral of France. 

I have the honor to remain, Sir, 

JAMES MANN, 
Chairman. 

M. PlEBBE LeFEVBE-PONTAUS, 

French Charge d' Affaires, 
Washington, D. C. 

Following the formal notification that the statue would be accepted by 
the government of the Republic of France, the commission proceeded to con- 
tract with The Gorham Company, of New York, for the making of the copy 
of the statue from the moulds in their possession, being the same moulds 
from which had been made the copy of this statue which stands in Statuary 
Hall in Washington. It is proper to say here that the work of The Gorham 
Company in making this copy was perfect in its execution, and to the entire 
satisfaction of the members of the commission. A photograph of the com- 
pleted statue will be reproduced as the frontispiece of this report. 



Correspondence With M. Jusserand 

The chairman having addressed to M. Jusserand a letter giving him full 
information as to the plans of the commission, and asking the wishes of his 
government in reference to several matters pertaining to the presentation of 
the statue, received from him the following letter: 

28 AvEXUE DU Trocadero, 

Paris, June 5, 1910. 
Dear Sib: 

A telegram which I caused to be sent to the French Charge d'Af- 
faires will have acquainted you, long before you receive this, with the 
arrangements made concerning the Washington Statue. 

Let me tell you before all how highly the gift is appreciated and 
how sincerely grateful the French Government and people feel towards 
Virginia. 

Then, to answer your several questions, what I have to say is that: 

The Statue having been made in view of being preserved indoors 
it was thought better to have it placed indoors. 



10 Presentation of a Copy of Houdons Statue 

X Versailles has been chosen as being the place where the treaty of 
1783 was signed, consecrating forever the Independence of the United 
States. Versailles being now a sort of shrine where the chief souvenirs 
of our past are preserved (pictures, statues, etc.), the image of Wash- 
ington will most appropriately figure there. 

After some hesitation, the best place within the palace has been 
considered to be the Marble Hall in front of the room where our Con- 
gress meets for the purpose of electing our own Presidents. It is a fine 
hall supported by marble columns. There is one vacant niche In it 
where the first President of the United States may quite appropriately 
be placed. 

Right and left will be installed two busts, one of La Fayette; the 
other of a sailor, either de Grasse, if one of his can be found (which is 
doubtful) or Suffren. They will stand there as the aides, so to say, of 
the great American. 
, As for the pedestal, there happens to be one, ready made in that 

j same niche; it is in white marble. It fits the statue. It has the incon- 
venience of being again somewhat too high. But as time is getting 
short and we have a pedestal, right at hand, which will save you much 
trouble, I suggest that this be used as it is. The French authorities 
fully agree. 

A marble tablet will be affixed against the wall, bearing such in- 
scription as you may think appropriate. Will you send me your text? 
I shall make a French translation of it which will be engraved on an- 
other tablet on the other side of the statue. 

The date would be, as you propose, between the 10th and 20th of 
August. This, to be sure, is a period when Paris is pretty empty, but 
nevertheless, you will not find yourselves in solitude. Our Secretary 
of State will certainly be present at the ceremony if he is then in Paris. 
If not, another member of the cabinet will be there and receive the 
statue on behalf of the government. 

We are all glad that your wives are coming. I shall certainly be 
present at the ceremony, sailing shortly after. 

Believe me, 

Very sincerely yours, 

JUSSERAND. 

To this letter the following reply was at once sent: 

NoBFOLK, Va., June 16, 1910. 
Mt dear Sir: 

I have read with much interest your letter of the 5th instant, which 
has just been received. 

I have been in correspondence for some days both by letter and 
telegram with M. Pontalis, and we have agreed upon Thursday, August 
18th, for the presentation and inauguration of the statue. 

The assurance given in your letter that you will remain in France 
and certainly be present at the ceremonies gives the members of the 
commission real pleasure. Permit me to express the hope that the pro- 



of Washington to the People of France 11 



gram as arranged by those in charge will contain an address by your 
Excellency. 

We regard the selection of Versailles, where on September 3, 1783, 
was signed the Treaty of Peace between the United States and Great 
Britain, which brought to a successful conclusion our Revolutionary 
War, and which you describe as a "shrine where the chief souvenirs" 
of your own country's glorious past are preserved, as a most happy one; 
and you do an honor even to the great Washington when you declare 
that he "will most appropriately figure there," for perhaps no nation's 
shrine contains the evidence of more glorious victories than does your 
own Versailles. 

We are more than pleased with the idea which the Frenck Govern- 
ment has adopted of placing on the right of the Statue of Washington a 
bust of La Fayette, who in 1785 by formal act of our General Assembly 
was made a citizen of Virginia, and who holds a place in the hearts of 
all Virginians second hardly to that of Washington himself; and on 
the left of the statue a bust of one of the naval heroes who came to 
help us to our independence. I hope that a bust of de Grasse, whose 
fleet made certain the decisive victory of Yorktown, can be found. If 
not, and if there be none of the gallant Suffren, commander of the re- 
doubtable Fantasque and later a Vice-Admiral of France; then Virginia 
will feel honored if there be placed upon the left of Washington a bust 
of d'Estaing, who commanded the first fleet sent to our aid in 1778; 
or of de Ternay, who gave his life for our cause and lies buried in Rhode 
Island; or of Destouches, his successor, who was thanked by Congress 
for his victory oflE the capes of the Chesapeake; or of de Barras, who 
was with de Grasse at Yorktown and signed the articles of capitulation 
on behalf of the latter; or of any of the brave captains of the great 
French fleet, which constantly protected our shores and on many oc- 
casions met and vanquished our enemy. 

And in this connection, I wish to suggest, as I suggested in a letter 
addressed to M. Pontalis on yesterday, that there be provided in the 
pedestal, just beneath the plinth of the statue, a receptacle in which 
may be placed a copy of "Les Combattants Francais de la Guerre Ameri- 
caine, 1778-1783," published pursuant to a resolution of Congress, in 
which is contained an indexed list of the 48,000 brave soldiers and sailors 
of France who contributed so signally to the successful consummation 
of the war. With La Fayette on his right, and one of his French Naval 
Aides upon his left, it seems peculiarly appropriate that the pedestal 
upon which he stands on the soil of France should be composed in part 
of the record of the brave Frenchmen upon whose gallantry the Com- 
mander-in-Chief of the allied armies of America and France so often 
depended. Allow me to request, on behalf of my associates and myself, 
if the arrangements will permit, that a general invitation to be present 
at the ceremonies be extended to the descendants of all those who gave 
aid to the American cause. 

The marble tablets bearing inscriptions in French and English will 
add much to the interest the statue will arouse. There will be a meet- 



12 Presentation of a Copy of Hovdons Statue 

ing of the commission in Richmond on Tuesday next, the 21st instant, 
and I will then send you the inscription we would suggest. 

I sincerely trust that the Minister of Foreign Affairs may be able 
to accept the Statue on behalf of France, and that other members of 
your government who are in Paris at the time will find it possible to 
honor the occasion by their presence. 

Mrs. Mann wishes me to convey to you the assurance of her appre- 
ciation of your expression of pleasure at the fact that the members of 
the commission will be accompanied to France by their wives; in which 
I am sure the other ladies would join her were they here. 

After the meeting of the commission on Tuesday next, I will send 
you in detail any further suggestions the members of the commission 
may deem it proper to make in order that the program may be com- 
pleted. According to our present plans we will go over in one of the 
Cunard ships, reaching Paris via Liverpool-Dover-Calais, on the after- 
noon of August 16th or the morning of the 17th. 

With the assurance of my great respect, I have the honor. Sir, to 
subscribe myself. 

Your obedient servant, 

JAMES MANN, 
Chairiruin. 
M. Jean J. Jusseband, 

Ambassador of France to the United States, 
Paris, France. 

The inscription suggested by the commission and accepted by the French 
government is as follows: 

GEORGE WASHINGTON, 

"Who, uniting to the endowments of the hero the virtues of 
the patriot, and exerting both in establishing the liberties of his 
country, has rendered his name dear to his fellow citizens and 
given to the world an immortal example of true glory." 

Pursuant to the unanimous act of the General Assembly of 
Virginia, approved by the Governor March 17, 1910, this repro- 
duction of Houdon's famous statue, pronounced by LaFayette "a 
fac-simile of Washington's person," is presented to the people of 
France by the people of Virginia as a token of friendship and 
esteem, and in grateful recognition of the signal and timely ser- 
vice rendered to Virginia and her sister States in their War for 
Independence. 

AUGUST 18, 1910. 

This inscription was placed on a tablet to the right of the statue, and 
the following French translation of the same was placed on a tablet to the 
left: 



of Washington to the People of France 13 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

"Qui unissant aux qualites du hgros les vertus du patriote 
et usant des unes et des autres pour etablir la liberte dans son 
pays, a fait cherir son nora par ses concitoyens et a donn6 au 
monde un exemple immortel de vraie gloire." 

Conformement a la loi votee a I'unanimite par I'Assemblge 
Generale de la Virginie et approuvee par le Gouverneur le 17 Mars 
1910, cette reproduction de la fameuse statue de Houdon, "fac- 
simile," selon La Fayette, "de la personne de Washington," est 
offerte au peuple de France par le peuple de Virginie en signe 
d'amitie et d'estime, et en temoignage de reconnaissance pour les 
eclatants et opportuns services rendus par la France a la Virginie 
et aux autres Etats de I'Union dans leur guerre de I'lndependance. 

18 AOUT 1910. 

Pursuant to the suggestion made by the commission, a receptacle was 
provided in the top of the pedestal just beneath the plinth of the statue 
and when the statue was placed in position, before the commission arrived 
in France, there was placed in this receptacle with appropriate ceremonies, 
by M. le Marquis de Segur, of the Academie Francaise, a descendant of one 
of the celebrated French officers who came to our aid, in the presence of 
M. de Nolhac, Conservateur du Palais, M. Jusserand, and other distinguished 
people, a copy of "Les Combattants Francais de la Guerre Americaine, 1778- 
1783." This document contains a list, with index, compiled from authentic 
sources in France, of all of the French officers and soldiers and sailors, 47,989 
in number, who participated in our Revolution, and whose gallantry con- 
tributed so greatly to the successful consummation of that momentous strug- 
gle; together with a short historical sketch in French, with a translation in 
English, of the different regiments and ships and of the part they took in 
the Revolutionary War. The French newspapers spoke of the placing of 
these names in the monument as "an exquisitely delicate sentiment" on the 
part of the State of Virginia. 

It is interesting in this connection to note that not only did France aid 
us in sending troops and ships, but she also gave us a great deal of financial 
aid. Louis XVI made several direct contributions of money to the American 
cause, and it is estimated by competent authorities that these contributions, 
added to the money expended by France in maintaining her army and her 
ships which were engaged in our behalf, aggregate in the neighborhood of 
250,000,000 francs. When Washington was notified by La Fayette that he 
had Cornwallis "bottled" at Yorktown, the Commander-in-Chief had not the 
funds with which to move his army from New York to Virginia, Rocham- 
beau came forward with a loan of 100,000 francs, which Washington after- 
wards repaid to him out of money contributed to the American cause by the 
French King. 



14 Presentation of a Copy of Houdons Statue 



Documents of Interest 

In the appendix will be found the following documents which contain 
much of historic interest: 

I. Resolution of the Virginia General Assembly, passed in June, 1784, 
providing for the Statue of Washington made by Houdon. 

II. A most interesting history of Houdon's Statue of Washington by 
Col. Sherwin McRae. 

III. The act of the General Assembly of Virginia declaring LaFayette 
a citizen of Virginia. 

IV. Resolution of the General Assembly of Virginia, passed in Decem- 
ber, 1784, providing for two busts of La Fayette, one to be presented to the 
city of Paris and the other to be placed at the seat of government in Vir- 
ginia. These busts were made by Houdon. 

V. A list of some of the courteous exchanges which have taken place 
between the people of France and the people of the United States. 



Part II 

The Presentation of the Statue 
to France 



of Washington to the People of France 15 



Arrival in Paris 

The members of the commission, accompanied by their wives, sailed from 
New York on the Caronia on August 3, 1910, and passing through England, 
reached Paris via Dover-Calais on the afternoon of August 16th at six-thirty 
o'clock, a private car having been attached to the train at Calais for their 
convenience and comfort. Arriving in Paris, they were met at the Gare du 
Nord by M. Adrien Thierry, representing the Ministre des Affaires Etran- 
geres, and Mr. A. Bailly-Blanchard, the First Secretary of the American Em- 
bassy. Automobiles from the American Embassy were in attendance, and 
they were taken to tne Hotel Continental, on the Rue de Rivoli, overlooking 
the beautiful Jardin des Tuileries, where they enjoyed a most comfortable 
suite of apartments during their stay in Paris. 

The following morning conferences were held with Ambassador Bacon 
and with M. Jusserand, at which the details of the presentation were ar- 
ranged, after which the members of the commission made formal calls upon 
M. Pichon, Ministre des Affaires Etrangeres; Gen. Brun, Ministre de la 
Guerre and Vice-Admiral de Lapeyrere, Ministre de la Marine, all of which 
calls were returned during the day at the Continental. The President, M. 
Fallieres, was in Switzerland and was not to return until the following week. 



The Inauguration Ceremonies 

Thursday, August 18th, was a beautiful day, and at two o'clock in the 
afternoon, accompanied by Ambassador and Mrs. Bacon, and Mr. Bailly-Blan- 
chard and Mr. Gunther, of the American Ambassy, the commissioners and 
their wives set out in automobiles for Versailles, where the presentation was to 
be made. Passing over the Place de la Concorde, out the Champs Elysee, 
past the Arc de Triomphe, and through the beautiful Bois de Bolougne, they 
arrived at their destination shortly before three o'clock. 

Approaching the Palace, which is dedicated "a toutes les gloires de la 
France," they passed through the Cour d'Honneur between long lines of 
troops in the elaborate full dress uniform of the French Army — cavalry on 
the one side and infantry on the other — until they arrived at the Cour des 
Princes, where they were received with military honors by Gen. Brun, Min- 
istre de la Guerre, accompanied by a large number of oflBcers of high rank, 
and many other distinguished French citizens. Among those with Gen. 
Brun were M. Jusserand, Ambassador from France to the United States, rep 
resenting the Ministre des Affaires Etrangeres; Col. Vignal, former military 
attache at Washington; Commander Bluzet, representing the Ministre de la 
Marine; M. de Nolhac, Conservateur du palais; General de Negrier, descendant 
of one of the French officers who fought for American independence; General 
Ebener, a distinguished French officer; the Secretary-General of the Prefecture 



16 Presentation of a Copy of Houdons Statxve 

of Seine-et-Oise; M. Lanes, Treasurer-General of the Prefecture of Seine-et- 
Oise, and son-in-law of the President; M. de Loynes, French Consul-General 
at Montreal; the Marquis de La Fayette, the present head of the La Fayette 
family and descendant of Gen. La Fayette, through his son, George Washington 
de La Fayette, and theComte Aldebert de Chambrun and the Comte Charles de 
Chambrun, descendants of Gen. La Fayette through his daughter, Virginie de 
La Fayette. From the Court of Princes, under the escort of these distinguished 
Frenchmen, the party made its way to the Vestibule Napoleon, a beautiful 
marble hall, through which one enters, from la terrasse de I'Orangerie, the 
Salle du Congres, the hall where the National Assembly meets to elect the 
Presidents of France. 

The hall presented a beautiful scene. At one end, at the foot of the statue 
of the Empress Josephine, there had been erected a tribune, decorated with 
flags and the colors of France and Virginia; at the other, surrounded by a 
guard of honor, stood the Statue of Washington, draped with the beautiful 
oflacial flag of the Governor of Virginia, which had been taken to France 
for the purpose by the commission; while back of it were gracefully grouped 
a number of French and United States flags. To the right and left were the 
tablets with inscriptions quoted above in English and French. Just in front 
of the statue and to the right upon a pedestal stood a marble bust of La 
Fayette, while to the left on a similar pedestal stood a bust of Franklin, 
which is to give place to the bust of the noted French naval officer, Suffren. 
To the side of the statue was placed a full length painting of Washington by 
Peale. Banked in front and on both sides were masses of palms, ferns and 
other evergreens; and between the speaker's tribune and the statue every 
available space was filled with distinguished citizens of France and the 
United States, including a large number of Virginians then in Paris. The 
dainty toilettes of the ladies and the bright uniforms of the officers, added to 
the natural splendor of the hall and the beauty of its decorations, made the 
scene one of brilliancy long to be remembered. 

The Addresses 

General Brun, the Minister of War, presided and introduced the speakers. 
A magnificent military band furnished the music for the occasion, playing 
the national hymn of America, la Marseillaise, and other military airs be- 
tween the addresses, which, in accordance with the recognized custom in pre- 
senting international gifts, were pronounced in English on the part of the 
representatives of Virginia, and in French on the part of the representatives 
of France. 



Address of Senator King 



General Brun, after a few preliminary remarks, introduced Senator 
Floyd W. King, the author of the bill providing for the presentation of the 
statue, who spoke as follows: 

Monsieur le Ministre, Ladies and Gentlemen of France and America: 

If any nation or any people ever merited the eternal gratitude of 
Virginia and Virginians, that nation is France and that people the 



16 PresetUation of a Copy of Uoudons iStatxie 



of Seine-et-Oise; M. Lanes, Treaaurer-Geotiral of the Prefecture of Seine-et- 
Oise, and son-ln-Iaw of the Pr. -• • m. de Loynes, PreDfh Conaul-General 
at. Moutreal; the Marquis de ' >'., the present head of the La Fayette 

family and descendant of Gen h his son ■ 'agton 

de La Fayette, an 1 theComf«? iin and r. i i-- de 

Chambrun, descendants ( • ugh his daugliier, e 

La Fayette. From the Coi 'c escort of these di: l 

Frenchmen, the party n. Vestibule Napoleon, a beautifiil 

marble hall, through wt: a la terrasse de I'Orangerie, the 

Salle du Congrea, the h . jal Assembly meets to elect the 

Presidents of F' ' 

The hall pv ' at the foot of the statue 

of the ' i with 

flags by a 

ffuarii :■.)! 

ofhcia ' 
for th 

a ' r ■-! ■■■:] ' ',\':n.t liie 

t. Just in front 

< - ui^oii a pcHU'sial siood a marble bust of La 

r, 'li a similar pedestal stood a bust of Franklin, 

place 10 the bust of the noted French naval oflBcer, Suffren. 

'i - tiie statue was p4acedT<'irfullr4«ugth,painting of Washington by 

Peaie Banked in front ano' on both siotes were masses of palms, ferns and 
tr - - -s; 3J($^^«W§(?5{^ls«Wtfek^\*b^ot?itt\ifi"fe"^^d the statue every 
a was filled with distinguished citizens of France and the 

Un;Lc!.: Stales, including a large number of Virginians The 

dainty toilettes of the ladies and the bright uniforms of r :ed to 

the natural splendor of the hall and the beauty of its decoratiouB, made the 
scene one of brilliancy long to be remembered. 



The Addresses 



Genera! Brun, the M' • and introduced the speakers. 

A magnificent military i- . -•sic for the occasion, plavlag 

the national hymn of America, ia Marseillalae, and other military airs be- 
tween the addresses, which, in acc^-'^ ' >■ with the recognized custom in pre- 
senting international gifts, were d in English on the part of the 
representatives of Virginia, and in r rorn.') on the part of the representatives 
of France. 



Address of Senator King 



General Brun, after a few preliminary remarks, introduced Senator 
Floyd W. King, the author of the bill providing for the presentation of the 
statue, who spoke as follows: 

MonHtur le Ministre, Laddea and Gentlemen of France and America: 

If any nation or any people ever merited the eternal gratitijde of 
Virginia and Virginians, that nation is France and that people the 



of Washington to the People of France 17 

French. They came to the aid of Virginia and her sister colonies in 
their struggle for relief from oppressive laws of Great Britain, which 
England has long since repealed as to her other possessions; and hy 
their aid as individuals and as a nation, they made possible that In- 
dependence which is the foundation stone of a mighty nation beyond 
the seas, whose achievements and whose glories are evidence to an 
admiring world that the confidence of La Fayette, the trust of Ro- 
chambeau, and the aid of Louis XVI. were not misplaced. 

Cynics may say that the French aid to America was based upon selfish 
considerations and was for French advancement; but even if this were 
true as to the feelings of some statesmen, it can in no wise be said of 
La Fayette. He aided America because he loved her; and long before 
any alliance between the struggling colonies and this great nation had 
been effected, the Marquis de La Fayette had thrown his life and his 
fortune into the balances for American freedom, and by his distin- 
guished services had become an officer in the Colonial army, and a 
trusted and confidential member of the staff of General Washington. 

Had France as a nation given no aid to America in her soul trying 
struggle for liberty, and could we remember only the gallant services of 
La Fayette in those days of travail, that remembrance alone would make 
well nigh indissoluble the ties of friendship that exist between the 
United States of America, an integral and sovereign part of which I 
have the honor to represent today, and this your great country, upon 
whose sacred soil I now stand in the performance of a most pleasant 
difly. 

Nor has America in general, nor Virginia especially, with all her 
development of natural resources, her international importance, her 
glorious achievement, forgotten her debt of gratitude to France and to 
the descendants of those noble people whose valiant service made pos- 
sible the attainment of her present glories. 

It comes as a sweet echo awakened in the caverns of memory that 
the gallant son of these noble people brought to her aid his sword, his 
service and his private fortune. 

When the news was sent by a swift footed courier through the then 
wild forests of Virginia and Maryland to General Washington, at that 
time in the North with his ragged, weary, footsore, but patriotic and 
undaunted followers, that the enemy was surrounded by land and sea 
at Yorktown, and that the presence of the Commander-in-Chief with 
his army would bring about a decisive victory, it rings true in the 
memory of every patriotic Ameircan that it was another Frenchman, 
the gallant Rochambeau, who came to the financial aid of the strug- 
gling colonists, and made to Washington a loan of one hundred thou- 
sand francs with which to purchase the equipment and supplies neces- 
sary to the mobilization of his army. 

It is pleasant to every American heart to recall that it was La 
Fayette with his gallant soldiers from old Virginia, aided by St. Simon 
with a portion of the French marines, that drew the cordons so closely 
about the belligerent Cornwallis at the historic village of Yorktown on 



18 Presentation of a Copy of Houdans Statue 

Virginia's sacred soil, that he was forced to capitulate upon terms that 
made possible the treaty of Paris, signed at this very place on the 
third day of September, 1783, by which was guaranteed to Virginia 
and to her twelve sister colonies the freedom and the dignity of state- 
hood, upon which they have builded a mighty nation and a world power. 

How sweet It is to recall the close and intimate relations that 
existed between the noble La Fayette and the mighty Washington in 
those days of trial and adversity, and which lingered throughout the 
life of each, prompting the Frenchman to perpetuate its memory by 
giving to two of his children the names of George Washington and 
Virginia; while the high regard in which La Fayette was held by all 
Virginians was evidenced by the action of their General Assembly, 
when by unanimous vote he was made a citizen of Virginia and had 
every right of citizenship conferred upon him — the highest honor that 
a sovereign State can bestow upon any man. 

These gilded threads of friendship between the people of France 
and the people of Virginia, spun in the days of travail, the loom of 
time has woven into a golden cloth of love, cherished by the Old Do- 
minion as among the richest of her possessions, while dearest of her 
works of art is the masterpiece of your own Houdon, revealing in the 
purest of white marble the fac-simile of the person of Virginia's 
greatest son. 

The passing of the years, though unmarked by any tangible token 
of Virginia's appreciation of the noble French, has in no measure di- 
minished her regard for them, nor lessened her admiration for their 
virtues and their chivalry. But that some token might be given to 
perpetuate, unchanged by the march of time, their appreciation and 
loving esteem, the last General Assembly of my State, representing 
two millions of her sovereign people, unanimously directed that a copy 
of Houdon's masterpiece be made in lasting bronze and presented to 
the people of France, "as an expression of Virginia's cordial admira- 
tion and loving regard." 

Being a member of Virginia's Senate, your humble speaker had the 
honor to be the patron of this bill; and when it had gone to its proper 
committees and been reported for a vote, the people's representatives 
from mountain, from seashore, from hill, from valley, from crowded 
metropolis, from pleasant peaceful glades, irrespective of party alle- 
giance, arose and with one voice acclaimed that the enduring reproduc- 
tion of the statue of the greatest American, as created by the immortal 
genius of France's most celebrated sculptor, should come across the seas, 
and by resting in the native land of him whose genius gave it form, 
should bind closer, if possible, the cords of admiration and love that 
exist between the people of America and the people of this great country 
— so rich in memories of a glorious past, so stalwart and progressive 
in the demands of a living present, so hopeful in the forward view she 
takes with poise and dignity to the unfolding of a future pregnant with 
promise. 

And so we come today, Sirs, in obedience to the commands of Vir- 



of Washington to the People of France 19 

ginia's sovereign people, to bring to the citizens of the great Republic 
of France a reproduction in bronze of the form and features of Ameri- 
ca's most illustrious son. It is of little value when measured in francs 
and centimes; but it is dear to the heart of every Virginian and every 
American because it faithfully delineates the noble features and mag- 
nificent physique of my country's grandest patriot. It is of interest 
to the people of this republic because of the hallowed associations of 
gallant Frenchmen of other generations with him whom we proudly 
call the "Father of his Country." It appeals to your lovers of art be- 
cause it is a perfect reproduction of that pure white masterpiece in 
marble yonder in the Capitol of the Mother of States, created by your 
beloved Houdon, the world's greatest sculptor of the eighteenth cen- 
tury. 

We trust it may serve to keep alive in the hearts of the youth of 
this land, throughout the coming generations, a fragrant memory of 
the great American patriot who loved France and was proud to be 
numbered among her friends, and who, after his own people, would 
rather be cherished in memory by the warm hearted and impulsive 
French, than by any other people under God's bright sunshine. 

We trust that the youth of every land, who yearly visit this shrine 
of your souvenirs, and who may gaze upon the classic features that 
will presently be uncovered before you, may catch from them an in- 
spiration for noble endeavor and for love of country that will kindle 
anew in their breasts the fires of patriotism, and thus ennobling the in- 
dividual, will ennoble that individual's nation, until every people from 
every clime shall be bound together by cords of peace and friendship, 
and marching with stately tread to the harmony of sweet music flowing 
from every quarter of the globe, shall press forward to that ultimate 
goal, the universal brotherhood of man. 



Address of Senator Halsey 



Following this address, Gen. Brun introduced Senator Don P. Halsey, a 
member of the commission, who spoke as follows: 

Monsieur le Ministre: 

"We have been contemporaries and fellow workers in the cause of 
liberty, and we have lived together as brothers should do in harmonious 
friendship." 

These words, written by Washington to Rochambeau in 1784, are 
inscribed upon the pedestal of the statue erected to the memory of that 
distinguished soldier and citizen of France, which stands facing the 
White House in the beautiful park of my nation's capital city, which 
bears the honored name of La Fayette. 

In the spirit of these words of Washington to his great contem- 
porary, Virginia, the oldest of the American Commonwealths, the birth- 
place, the home and the burial ground of Washington, today sends his 
statue with greetings of fraternal regard and gratitude to France, whose 
soldiers and sailors were his companions in arms. 



20 Presentation of a Copy of Houdons Statue 

It has been said that "statecraft has a cynical maxim that there is 
no such thing as gratitude between nations," and the ingratitude of re- 
publics is proverbial. If these maxims are true, then the cordiality of 
friendship and grateful remembrance which since the Revolutionary 
War have continuously existed in the hearts of the people of America 
for those of France must be the exceptions which prove the rule. Never 
can our people forget that in the darkest hour of their peril and distress, 
when their cause seemed almost lost, it was the timely and signal as- 
sistance which came from France that turned the tide of battle in their 
favor, and forever decided that America should be a lond of freedom 
and not a land of colonial dependencies. It is the verdict of history 
that without the aid of France the war for American Independence 
would have been a failure, the Revolution would have been recorded as 
an unsuccessful rebellion, and the principle of taxation without repre- 
sentation have become the established order in the relations between 
that portion of the New World which is now the United States and the 
Kingdom of Great Britain. 

I know it has been questioned by some whether the American Col- 
onies might not have won their independence without the French al- 
liance. Such questioning, however, is but idle speculation. There can 
be no doubt by any that if the Americans could have won at all without 
the French, they could have done so only at infinitely greater cost and 
by an indefinite prolongation of the struggle. Even then a compro- 
mise would doubtless have been the most that could have been secured, 
instead of the unconditional recognition of the truth of the assertion of 
the immortal Declaration that "these colonies are and of right 
ought to be free and independent States." As it was, the alliance as- 
sured the triumph and the triumph was complete. 

This alliance has well been termed "the romance of history." The 
spectacle of one of the proudest of monarchs, surrounded by a court 
composed of the elite of the most exclusive of titled nobilities, sending 
fleets and armies under officers chosen from the flower of European 
aristocracy, to fight with ragged rebels for the cause of popular liberty, 
is one to which the annals of time afford no parallel. That such an 
apparent paradox was brought about was due to the efforts of one 
whose name will ever be revered in America with honor and affection 
second only to the reverence accorded to the name of Washington him- 
self — the Marquis de La Fayette. 

It is recorded in our history that when this friend of our country, 
then a mere youth, applied to our commissioners in Paris, in 1776, for 
a passage in the first ship they should dispatch to America, they were 
obliged to reply that they had not the money nor the credit to provide 
a single vessel, and sought to dissuade him by telling him of the well- 
nigh hopeless condition of their cause. But the heroic boy replied "Thus 
far you have seen my zeal only; now it shall be something more. I 
will purchase and equip a vessel myself. It is while danger presses that 
I wish to join your fortunes." And so when America was too poor to 
furnish him even with passage to her shores, he left, in his tender 



20 



Presentation of a Copy of Uoudon'g Statiui 



It has been said that -t has a cynical ma there Is 

no such thing as gratitude iiationf>,' and the ; i*^ of re- 

publics is proverbial. If these maxims ar«i true, then the corillallty of 
friendship and grateful remembranc*' which since the Revolutionary 
War have continuously existed hi fVi*- hearts of the people of America 
for those of France must )> • ■ .s which prove the rule. Never 

can our people forget that , liour of their peril and distress, 

when their cause sec-iv was the timely and signal as- 

sistance which came f* 'rued the tide of battle in their 

favor, and forever d-- • should be a lond of freedom 

and not a land of v : ft is the verdict of history 

that without tb» r American Independence 

would hi' • ' ' ' ■ ' ' ' ; as 

an unsi- ire- 

'en 
he 



He 
b^ 

lh> 
b.v 



a^iif;tfe«r the American Col- 

■ •e without the French al- 

• .M\t:vc;r, lb out idle speculation, There can 

Lhe Americans could have won at all without 

voald have done so only at infinitely greater cost and 

pr( 



•olongat^^^y^ ti|e j,i^g^§^^ Even then a compro- 
uiis* would doubtless have been ihe most that could have been secured, 
Lnfttead of the uncdk«d?ffllI\«R^iP'{&^^^ ^^'ifmihhe assertion of 
the Immortal Declaration that "these colonies are and of right 
ought to be "" ■ ■ 'States." As it was, the aili»uc« as 

Kured the t; was complete. 

This al! 
spectacle ■■■ 
compot 
fleets (ill 
aristocracy 
is one to whui: 
apparent parade 
whose name will ev^ 
second only to the re^'. ' 
self— the Marquis de La Fi< 

It is recorded ir; 
then a mere youth, a- 
a passage In the first ship a. 
obliged to reply that they had 



iUg 

• iiopean 

;tular liberty, 

• -' such an 

lis of one 

Old affection 

nine: on hlm- 

Ltiis fijoud [Ji our country, 
iners la Paris, in 1776, for 
-*ch to America, they were 
y nor the credit to provide 



a single vessel, and sought to dissuad-' niui by telling him of the well- 
nigh hopeJeas condition of their cause. But the heroic boy replied "Thus 
far you have seen my zeal only; now it shall be something more. I 
will purchase and equip a vessel myself. It is while dangei 'hat 

I wish to join your fortunes." And so w^hen America wat to 

furnish him even with passage to her shores, he left, in hiio lender 



of Washington to the People of France 21 

youth, his home, his bride, his surroundings of wealth, of rank, of 
luxury and of happiness to endure hardships and privation, and conse- 
crate "his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor" to the cause of liberty 
across the seas. 

It was to a forlorn hope that he thus joined his efforts. Disaster, 
retreat, hunger, depression and despair were in large measure the por- 
tion of the American army of which he became a member. But 

"As stars to night, woe lustre gives to man," 

and never shone so brightly the great qualities of both Washington and 
La Fayette as when their dauntless spirits together wrestled with ad- 
versity. 

In spite of the reverses he had encountered in the closing days of 
1776, "Washington suddenly turned upon the advancing enemy, crossed 
the Delaware in the cold and darkness of a wintry night, and on Christ- 
mas morn victoriously fell upon the Hessian camp at Trenton. On 
the third of January, 1777, he defeated the British again at Princeton; 
but before the end of the year the flame of hope which these successes 
had kindled, again smoldered and burned low. In September the 
Americans were defeated at Brandywine, La Fayette was wounded and 
400 prisoners taken by the enemy. Congress had to flee from Philadel- 
phia, and on the 26th the British with flying colors marched in and 
took possession of the city. On the 4th of October Washington was 
repulsed at Germantown, losing 400 more prisoners from his thin and 
exhausted ranks. The campaign of 1777 in the Middle States gloomily 
ended, and Washington returned with his wasted and despondent army 
to the bleak hills of Valley Forge, where the bare feet of the soldiers 
left their bloody imprints in the snows of the succeeding winter. But 
meanwhile, on October 16th, the battle of Saratoga was fought, and a 
blow was struck second in importance only to that inflicted upon the 
enemy at Yorktown. Morgan and his Virginia riflemen, nobly supported 
by the Continentals of New York and New England, led by Gates, Lin- 
coln and Arnold, forced the capitulation of Burgoyne with his entire 
force of 6,000 men and 42 pieces of artillery. This was the first really 
decisive event of the war. It has been numbered with Marathon, Hast- 
ings and Orleans, among the decisive battles of history. It was the 
turning point of the Revolution. It inspired hope at home and confi- 
dence abroad. It seconded the appeals of LaFayette and the diplomacy 
of Franklin, and largely contributed to win the treaty of alliance with 
France and the recognition of other European governments which 
quickly followed it. 

La Fayette now realized that his mission was in France. "I can 
help the cause more at home than here," he said, and asked for a leave 
of absence. Congress voted him a sword as a mark of gratitude, and 
he returned to France with a letter to the King in which the Continental 
Congress said: "We recommend this young nobleman to your Ma 
jesty's notice as one whom we know to be wise in council, gallant in 



22 Presentation of a Copy of Houdons Statwe 

the field, and patient under the hardships of war." His return to 
France was one continuous ovation. Triumphal processions and fetes 
welcomed him on every hand, but these evidences of popular approval 
he valued only as they gave him power to procure aid for America. 
"France is now committed to war," he argued, "and the enemy's weak 
point of attack is in America. Send there your money and your men." 
And the results of his efforts were the army of Rochambeau and the 
fleet of de Grasse. 

"It is fortunate," said de Maurepas, the prime minister, "that 
LaFayette did not want to strip Versailles of its furniture for his 
dear Americans, for nobody could withstand his ardor." 

Even after the evacuation of Rhode Island by Clinton, in 1779, 
Washington was nevertheless obliged to maintain the defensive. He 
realized that it was necessary to the success of the cause that he 
should have re-enforcements and especially the co-operation of a naval 
force superior to that of the British. "If we do not have money and 
soldiers from France," he said, "our cause is lost." France alone could 
furnish the desired assistance, particularly the vessels of war. France 
did furnish both men and ships. There was great need of funds also. 
These came in the shape of a gift from King Louis XVI. of 6,000,000 
livres. De Grasse also was instrumental in furnishing the needed 
money. During his stay in the West Indies he obtained from the Gov- 
ernor of Havana a loan of 1,200,000 livres for which he gave as se- 
curity his private fortune. All in all France and its citizens contrib- 
uted to the cause of the Revolution about 48,000 men, about $50,000,000 
in money and nearly one hundred ships of war, including transports. 

Republics may be ungrateful, but the time has never been when 
the people of Virginia and her sister States have failed to recognize 
with gratitude and appreciation the generous and chivalric services 
rendered to their cause by the brave and gallant people of France. 
When an oflScer from General Carleton, who succeeded Clinton as the 
British Commander-in-Chief, came to Washington's headquarters with 
an offer of peace and independence if the Americans would renounce 
the alliance with France, Washington refused to receive him. Congress 
spurned Carleton's secretary bearing a like message, and the States, 
led by Maryland, denounced all who entertained propositions of peace 
which were not approved by France as public enemies. When David 
Hartley, a member of Parliament and a close friend of Benjamin Frank- 
lin, who was one of the three American commissioners to France, wrote 
to Franklin that he understood that America was disposed to enter 
into a separate treaty with Great Britain, that staunch old patriot 
replied: "This has always given me more disgust than my friendship 
I^ermffs me to express. I believe there is not a man in America, a 
few English Tories excepted, who would not spurn the thought of 
deserting a noble and generous friend for the sake of a truce with an 

unjust and cruel enemy The Congress will never instruct 

their commissioners to obtain a peace on such ignominious terms, and 
though there can be but few things in which I should venture to dis- 
obey their orders, yet, if it were possible for them to give such an order 



of Washington to the People of France 23 

as this, I should certainly refuse to act. I should instantly renounce 
their commission and banish myself forever from so infamous a coun- 
try." 

No, America could not then, and she cannot now, forget the fidelity 
and magnanimity of her great ally. After the lapse of more than a 
century the mere memory of the heroic friendship, the unswerving 
loyalty, the unfaltering generosity and noble self sacrifice of the 
French comrades in arms is suflBcient to stir the hearts of Virginians 
and all Americans with emotions of undying love and gratitude. 

It is as a slight token of that love and gratitude, unbroken and 
undiminished through the years that have come and gone, that Vir- 
ginia wishes to give to France this statue of him who led the allied 
armies to victory. It is a copy of the masterpiece of that great French 
sculptor, Jean Antoine Houdon, born in this city of Versailles, and 
may well be kept here in this sacred shrine of French history and art, 
this palace once trod by the feet of Kings, as the best counterfeit pre- 
sentment of the face and form of one who, though he acknowledged no 
greater royalty than that of manhood, stands forth among the noblest 
and most majestic characters that grace the pages of history — the in- 
carnation of that spirit of resistance to oppression which inspired the 
Frenchmen of an earlier day to join hands with him in the cause of 
human freedom, the statue of him whom Virginia lovingly crowns as 
the greatest of her sons, given by her to America and to the world as 
a pattern and exemplar of civic virtue and patriotism. 

That he is deserving of all the honor we can give him the people of 
France will be first to admit. Already your statesmen, your soldiers, 
your poets and orators have proclaimed his praise in words and actions 
that can never be forgotten. When on February 9, 1800, Napoleon de- 
creed a great triumphal procession in honor of the victories in Egypt, 
the standards and flags which fluttered at the heads of the regiments 
were hung with crape, and remained draped with the emblems of 
mourning for the period of ten days, in response to the tidings from 
across the ocean that Washington, the friend of liberty, was no more. 
And after the grand parade was over, the dignitaries of France pro- 
ceeded solemnly to the Temple of Mars, where the eloquent public 
orator, M. de Fontanes, pronounced an ornate funeral oration in which 
he well said: "More than any words the mere holding of this soldierly 
funeral ceremony will impress all hearts with strong and lasting emo- 
tion." 

Napoleon also caused a noble tribute to Washington to be read at 
the head of his armies, and Talleyrand, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
made an elaborate report of his death to the First Consul, in which he 
used these words: 

"A nation which some day will be a great nation, and which today 
is the wisest and happiest on the face of the earth, weeps at the bier 
of a man whose courage and genius contributed the most to free it 
from bondage, and elevate it to the rank of an independent and sovereign 
power. The regrets caused by the death of this great man, the mem- 
ories aroused by these regrets, and a proper veneration for all that is 



24: Presentation of a Copy of Houdon's Statue 

held dear and sacred by mankind, impel us to give expression to our 
sentiments by taking part in an event which deprives the world of 
one of the brightest of its ornaments, and removes to the realm of 
history one of the noblest lives that ever honored the human race. 
. . . . The man who, amid the decadence of modern ages, first 
dared to believe that he could inspire degenerate nations with courage 
to rise to the level of republican virtues, lived for all nations and for 
all centuries, and this nation, which first saw in the life and success of 
that illustrious man a foreboding of his destiny, and therein recog- 
nized a future to be realized and duties to be performed, has every 
right to class him as a fellow citizen." 

Major General de Chastellux, a distinguished French officer, who 
fought under Washington and Rochambeau, beautifully wrote: 

"The whole of North America, from Boston to Charleston is a 
great book, each page of which offers his praise. Brave without temer- 
ity, hard working without ambition, generous without prodigality, noble 
without pride, virtuous without severity, he seems ever to stop within 
the limits where virtues, while assuming more glaring but more change- 
ful colors, may be considered by some as akin to defects." 

Among the illustrious Frenchmen who have eloquently pronounced 
words of eulogy upon the life and character of Washington, it gives me 
pleasure to mention the distinguished scholar, orator, statesman and 
diplomat who now occupies the post of Ambassador from this country 
to the United States, a man whose name is held in honor throughout 
America, and especially in Virginia, where he is well known, and 
whose presence as a speaker here today lends one of the principal 
charms to this occasion. It will always be a pleasure to the members 
of this commission to remember that when they first mentioned to him 
the desire of Virginia to make this gift, he at once exhibited that gra- 
cious courtesy and appreciation which have characterized the French 
side of this affair throughout, and made it clear that France still en- 
tertains the same sentiments of sincere friendship for Virginia that 
Virginia holds for France. 

It was your own Guizot, the great historian of civilization, who 
pronounced that opinion of Washington, which seems best to Bum- 
marize the story of his great achievements: "Washington," said he, 
"did the two greatest things which in politics it is permitted to man 
to attempt. He maintained by peace the independence of his country 
which he conquered by war. He founded a free government in the 
name of the principles of order and by re-establishing their sway." 
But it is not alone because Washington did these two things that his 
name will live in history among those of the greatest sons of earth, 
"the noblest figure that ever stood in the forefront of a nation's life." 
He was a great soldier, a great general and leader of armies, but the 
world has seen greater commanders and masters of the art of war. 
Ca?sar, Napoleon, Frederick the Great, Mp,rlborough and Stonewall 
Jackson may doubtless have surpassed him in strategy and brilliancy 
of execution. He was greater as a statesman than as a soldier, but 
his intellectual triumphs in the realms of statecraft were no greater 



of Washington to the People of France 25 

than those of Richelieu, of Hamilton, of Jefferson or of Madison. It 
was because Washington possessed, in addition to the skill and en- 
durance in warfare by which he conquered his country's independence, 
and the wisdom and foresight by which he maintained it in peace, those 
attributes of unselfish and devoted patriotism which made him willing 
to stop at no sacrifice that might redound to his country's good, those 
elements of the most exalted character of manhood which enabled him 
to rise superior to all the trials to which he was subjected, that history 
accords to him the truth of the tribute of Edward Everett that he was 
"the greatest of good men and the best of great men." Well might 
Madison inscribe upon the pedestal of his statue that he "united to 
the endowments of the hero the virtues of the patriot" and "exerted 
them both in establishing the liberties of his country." Gifted with a 
physical presence majestic in its calm dignity and perfect proportions, 
possessing a mind in which justice and wisdom dwelt serene, and a 
heart devoid of all alloy of selfishness or guile, he looms large upon 
the page of history as a shining illustration of the noblest heights to 
which humanity may rise, and gives to mankind "an immortal ex- 
ample of true glory." 

In the official account of the unveiling of the Rochambeau statue 
in Washington, on May 24, 1902, it is related that when the cord re- 
leasing the enshrouding flags was pulled by Madame La Comtesse Ro- 
chambeau, while the air was rent with shouts of applause, while hand- 
kerchiefs waved and cannons roared, and while above all the tumult 
rose the soul stirring strains of "Le Marseillaise," the receding folds 
of the stars and stripes, "apparently reluctant to part from one who 
had so valiantly upheld it in time of stress, clung to the hand which 
bore the plan of attack which struck the chains of servitude and slavery 
from the adolescent giant of the West." The President, Mr. Roosevelt, 
observing the efforts of some French and American seamen to release 
the clinging drapery, amid the sensation of the moment, exclaimed: 
"Leave it where it is! Leave it! It clings to the hero as he did to us!" 
And so the flag appropriately remained upon the statue until the end 
of the exercises. 

May we not see in this incident a true picture of the cordial admi- 
ration and loving regard which warms the hearts that beat under the 
stars and stripes for the great people who clung to them in their time 
of greatest danger? When Rochambeau landed on our shores at the 
head of his gallant army he said, speaking of the American people, "I 
am the friend of their friends and the foe of their foes." And again 
he said, "We are one in life and death." These generous expressions 
in words of a friendship which was vindicated in deeds of valor, and 
consecrated with the blood of heroes upon the altars of liberty, may 
well stand today as the symbol of the bond which unites the people of 
France with those of America, and well accord with the words of 
President Loubet at the unveiling of the La Fayette statue in 1900: 
"This friendship, born in the comradeship of arms, has developed and 
grown stronger during the century now past. The generations which 
follow us will not suffer it to grow weaker." God grant that his words 



26 Presentation of a Copy of Houdons Statue 

may prove true; and as the centuries thicken and the plans of Provi- 
dence are unfolded through the succeeding generations, may the richest 
blessings of Heaven be showered upon the Republic and people of 
France; may the great Republic of the Old World and the great Re- 
public of the New forever stand in the truest sense for "liberty, fra- 
ternity, equality," and may the beautiful tri-color of France and the 
glorious stars and stripes of America wave forever in the forefront of 
the triumphant march of civilization, thus giving to the world an abid- 
ing assurance of the peace, prosperity, progress and enlightenment of 
humanity. 

Address of Presentation 

General Brun then introduced Colonel James Mann, chairman of the 
Virginia commission, who presented the statue on behalf of the people of 
Virginia to the people of France, in the following words: 

M. LE MiNISTRE DE LA GtJERRE: 

A century and a quarter ago there came into being within this palace 
a document that meant even more to America than did our immortal 
Declaration of Independence, for here, on September the 3d, 1783, was 
signed the Treaty of Peace between Great Britain and the United States 
of America, which vitalized and made true our declaration that we 
were "and of right ought to be free and independent States." This is 
indeed the birthplace of our nation, and we have come in grateful rec- 
ognition of the splendid part that France took in the accomplishment 
of our freedom to place within these sacred walls the statue of the 
"Father of his Country." 

The grandest name in all the history of America is that of George 
Washington, and the history of all the nations gives us none that is 
grander. Unique is his place among the great men of the earth. It is 
usually the soldier's dream to die by the sword, but he engaged in war 
only that his country might have peace. Drawing his sword from 
patriotic impulse, without ambition and without malice, he wielded it 
without vindictiveness and sheathed it without reproach. Donning 
the plain clothes of the citizen as soon as the enemy had left our shores, 
he issued a touching farewell address to his comrades in arms, and 
hurrying to Annapolis, he put aside his sword and laid down his com- 
mission at the feet of the Congress from whom he had received it eight 
years before. 

Grand as he was in war, he was grander still in peace, and to him 
above all others is due the adoption of the constitution which welded 
the States together into that form of government which became the 
pattern of future republics. Elected the first President of the United 
States, he served for two terms as the unanimous choice of the people, 
and then voluntarily sought that retirement from which he had come 
only at the earnest call of his country. Courteous and courtly to all 
men, a tender affection characterized his intercourse with his friends. 
La Fayette's heart went out to him in filial love; Rochambeau held him 



Colonel James Muitn 
Chairman of the Virginia Commission 



26 Presentation of a Copy of Hovdon's Statue 



may prove true: and as the centuries thicken and the plans uf Provt 
dence are ; hroui^b the succeeding t 'is, may il 

blies-;!ngs lit sh'twored upon 'i .'iic and 

France; m of the Oi<i World and the great Re- 

public rf ' in the truest sense for "liberty, fra- 

ternity, equality." he t)eaut3ful tii-color of France and the 

glorious ^t"' '^ ' >"i"rlca wave forever in the forefront of 

the triufu; on, thus j^iving to the world an abid- 

ii : II" 01 .n<. v>te('. prMsperlty, progreas and enlightenment of 



jKines Mann, chr.; ' "-^.■• 

V^' it'je <>n behalf of 

Vjr<;ij. j«.<jj;le -f France-, iii tilt; followioK words: 

M. JuK Mi.Nl.'iTRK DB LA GlTEBBT.: 

A o«ntary and a quarter ago there f:ame into being within this palace 
a dooumeot thai meant even more to America than did our immortal 
I •! of Independence, for here, on September the 3d, 1783, was 

V. ""rcaty cf Peace bet-ween Gxmt <Bi^^^n^ and the United States 

oi America, which vltalizea and niade true our declaration that we 
weie "and of right*'<WgtiFt\S^9e'^fPtId^fAd^^lW(i'l"^?'^ates." This is 
indeed the birthplace of our nation, and we have come in grateful rec- 
ognition of the splendid part that France took in the accompHsbinent 
of our freedom to plHce wlthlc theue sacred 'walls the statue of the 
"Fath ■ - - - 

T: :; all the history of America is tbrtt 

WatiljiugUfXi, duu Liie iiistory of all the n?.* •. ia 

grander. Unique is his place among the cv' It is 

usually the soldier's dream to die ' .i in war 

only that his country mifeh" ' b^ord from 

patriotic impulse, without a.- ue wielded it 

without vindictiveness <-•' Donning 

the plain clothes of the ci .r shores, 

he issued a touching to- .u arms, and 

hurrying to Annapolis, ii iown his com- 

mission at the feet of the Co.. s: whom he nad received it eight 

years before. 

Grand as he was in war, he was grander still in peace, and to him 
above all others is due the adoption of the constitution which welded 
the States together into that form of government which became the 
pattern of future republics. Elected the first President of the Unitetl 
States, he served for two terms as the unanimous choice of the pfoi :- 
and then voluntarily sought that retirement from which he had <■:.;• 
only at the earnest call of his country. Courteous and '<''i')i 
men, a tender affection characterized his intercourse -wi: 
La Fayette's heart went out to him in filial love; Rochanjbt- ; ■ ■ • • 



of Washington to the People of France 27 

as a dearly beloved brother in arms; de Grasse admired him and was 
glad to call him friend; Cbastellux declared him to be "the greatest 
and best of all men"; while his own people with one accord have pro- 
claimed him "First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of 
his countrymen." 

It is well to tell the story of a nation's struggles; it is glorious to 
remember the victories that a nation's great warriors have won; it is 
necessary that the people of a nation shall know the story of its de- 
velopment and progress in the arts of peace; but always before the 
eyes of the people for their inspiration should stand the statues of the 
men who have wrought its greatness. Your own great Napoleon, as 
a young man, loved to look upon the statues of the mighty dead; and 
an illustrious writer once said of Alexander the Great: "Remember, 
it was not so much the history of the heroes as their statues in the 
Ceramicus that would not allow the young son of Phillip to sleep." 

And so the war drums of the Revolution had hardly ceased to sound 
before the new born State of Virginia voted a statue to Washington. 
Desiring to honor the greatest of her sons, she knew, when she en- 
shrined in the place of highest honor in her capitol, that splendid figure 
of a man, that she was handing down to generations then and even now 
unborn an inspiration that would redound always to the good of the 
Commonwealth. Jefferson, author of our Declaration of Independence, 
and later President of the Republic, then in France, selected for this 
great work that illustrious French sculptor, Jean Antoine Houdon, 
whom he declared to be "without rivalship, the first statuary of this 
age." Houdon visited America, and at Mt. Vernon, where he was en- 
tertained with that courteous hospitality which distinguished the home 
life of Washington, he studied thoroughly his subject, took accurate 
measurements, and even made a mould of his face. Returning to 
France, yonder in your beautiful Paris, working patiently and with 
consummate skill, Houdon fashioned in marble the perfect statue which 
was described by La Fayette as a "fac-simile of Washington's person." 
It is accepted as the standard and one perfect likeness of Washington, 
truer than any portrait the best artist could produce; as a work of 
art, it surpasses any statue in America; its value to my people cannot 
be measured in gold or in silver or in precious stones. It is a beautiful 
bronze copy of this statue, made by the Gorhams, the most famous 
founders in America, that we have brought to you on behalf of the 
people of Virginia. 

The gratitude the people of my country feel towards France finds 
its best expression in the affectionate regard in which they hold the 
memory of La Fayette. No name in all the history of that period, save 
only that of Washington, is so dear to them as that of the gallant 
young Frenchman, who before he had reached the age of twenty be- 
came a major-general in the Army of the United States of America, 
having tendered his services as "a volunteer without pension or al- 
lowance." Before the Constitution of the United States was adopted. 
La Fayette had been by legislative act declared a citizen of Virginia, 
the highest honor a free State can pay to any man; and upon his 



28 Presentation of a Copy of Houdon's Statue 

death, by order of the President of the United States, the same honors 
were rendered throughout the nation as had been observed upon the 
death of Washington. His love for our State was touchingly shown 
when he named a daughter Virginia. 

The day after tomorrow marlts the anniversary of the day on which 
La Fayette joined the American Army; three weeks later, he bore upon 
his body the wound of a British bullet, and had so distinguished him- 
self in the battle of Brandywine as to receive special mention in Wash- 
ington's report. Serving at first without command, in less than two 
months after the battle of Brandywine, so gallant had he proven him- 
self and so strongly had Washington become impressed with his bravery 
and ability as a soldier, that he was given command of a division in 
the Continental Army. La Fayette having been offered his choice of 
commands, selected a division, I am proud to relate in his own words, 
"composed entirely of Virginians." 

After a year and a half devoted to the American cause, and carry- 
ing himself always with distinction, duty required his temporary re- 
turn to France. Congress voted him the thanks of the people, presented 
him with a sword, and caused a most commendatory letter to be sent 
to Louis XVI. Another year spent in the councils of his own nation, 
urging always the cause of America, and he returned, bringing the 
wonderful news that thousands of Frenchmen were on the high seas 
coming to our aid. 

Dire had become our extremity and sad our plight when the good 
news reached General Washington. None knew so well as he that 
without aid, the cause of America was hopeless. There remained only 
the miracle of his own resourcefulness, and even his great spirit looked 
forward to the future with despair. Shortly before La Fayette's return, 
Washington had sent to the American commissioners at Paris this 
urgent appeal: "If France denies a timely and powerful aid in the 
critical posture of our affairs, it will avail us nothing should she at- 
tempt it hereafter. We are at this hour suspended in the balance 
. . . . and now or never deliverance must come." 

The States were in the very slough of despond, and the people had 
reached the utmost limit of willing but impossible further sacrifice. 
It had come to the final issue, survive or perish, without any apparent 
reserve vitality to stay the seemingly inevitable end. We had reached 
that critical point, to use the words of a distinguished Frenchman, now 
present (M. Jusserand), who enjoys the esteem and good will of all 
Americans, when "the question was whether the Revolution would prove 
the cradle or the grave of American liberty." 

La Fayette was received upon his return with joy unspeakable; and 
soon there came that splendid army of Frenchmen which was to prove 
our salvation. He was not to command that army of his countrymen, 
but he rode again at the head of his division of brave Virginians. It 
was he, with his Continentals, who drove Cornwallis into the untenable 
position at Yorktown and held him there until the coming of Wash- 
ington and Rochambeau by land, and of de Grasse and St. Simon by 
sea. Cornwallis had said of him, "The boy cannot escape me"; but it 



of Washington to the People of France 29 

was due to the splendid strategy of "the boy" that the entire British 
Army on that glorious October day in 1781 was forced to march out in 
humble submission between the lines of French and Americans and lay 
down its arms. The power of the oppressor was broken, and America 
was soon to be free ! 

We know that this glorious consummation could not have been at- 
tained without the aid you gave us. We remember d'Estaing with his 
ships and his soldiers, who came close upon the Treaty of Alliance 
signed at Paris in February, 1778, and the naval battle that he fought 
off Newport in a raging storm with the British under Howe; we re- 
member the forcing of the Narragansett Channel and the destruction 
of ten British ships of war by your brave Suffren; we remember the 
arrival of the army under Rochambeau, that great soldier and brave, 
splendid gentleman, dear to the hearts of all Americans, who afterwards 
became a Marshal of France; we remember the gallant de Ternay, 
who came with him and who rests in the little churchyard in Rhode 
Island awaiting the last reveille — peace to his ashes; we remember 
the news that came from the South, and the feint on New York that 
covered the hurried march of Washington and Rochambeau to Vir- 
ginia; we remember that at that critical moment, without funds to 
move his army, Washington turned to Rochambeau, and that it was 
100,000 francs of French money loaned to him for the purpose that 
paved the way to the triumph at Yorktown; we remember that forced 
march of seven hundred miles by the allied armies to form a junction 
with LaFayette and his Americans, and St. Simon and his newly ar- 
rived French forces, and to meet de Grasse and his fleet; we remember 
the decisive victory de Grasse won in the great naval battle off the 
capes of the Chesapeake when he defeated the British under Graves, 
and eliminated the possibility of relief for Cornwallis from the sea; 
we remember, when the lines had been drawn close around Cornwallis 
and the final dash was about to be made, that the left wing of the 
allied armies, composed of Frenchmen, was commanded by Rocham- 
beau, and that the right wing, composed of Americans, was commanded 
by La Fayette, while the forty-two French ships of war, which cut off 
the British retreat, were commanded by de Grasse — the whole under 
the command of Washington; we remember that the battle was opened 
by the French, and that from then on until the white flag of surrender 
floated above the British trenches, the French and Americans vied with 
one another in the display of bravery. We remember the daring deeds 
throughout the war of Destouches, de Barres, St. Simon, the two Vio- 
menils, the Chevalier de Chastellux, de Choisy, de Lauzun, Duportail, 
Gimat, and of the thousands of brave officers and men who fought with 
them for our freedom; we remember the millions of livres France 
loaned us in our time of need, and the hundreds of millions of livres 
she spent freely in our defence; we remember when Washington died 
that the French army, by order of Napoleon, then first consul, paid to 
his memory the same high honors that would have been accorded one 
of their officers of highest rank; and above and beyond all things we 
remember always that but for the aid of France, success could not have 



30 Presentation of a Copy of Houdons Statue 

crowned the efforts of Washington in our Revolutionary War. It ia 
because Virginians remember these things, and remembering them, 
love the people of France, that v^^e have come in their names as the 
bearers of this token of their affection. 

The graciousness with which the gift of this statue has been re- 
ceived has added to the pleasure Virginia has felt in sending her best 
loved son to stand on the soil of France, amid the only allies "offensive 
and defensive" America has ever had. It was a beautiful thought that 
prompted the people of France to place upon the right of Washington 
the bust of La Fayette, his most trusted lieutenant and his dearest 
friend; and on his left Suffren, the gallant commander of the redoubt- 
able Fantasque, who dealt such telling blows to the British ships upon 
our coast, and later by his bravery won for himself the high honor of 
being an Admiral of France. And it is indeed fitting that there should 
be placed within the pedestal as a part of his support the names and 
the records of the 47,989 brave French officers, soldiers and sailors who 
made possible the successful termination of the war, and thereby en- 
titled Washington to stand upon that high pinnacle of fame which 
history accords only to the victorious. His spirit, as it hovers here 
above his statue, must indeed feel that he stands in the midst of his 
friends. 

And now, M. le Ministre de la Guerre, it is with peculiar pleasure 
that, on behalf of the people of Virginia, and as the personal representa- 
tive of the Chief Executive of the Commonwealth, I present through 
you to the people of the great Republic of France this Statue of George 
Washington; and when we leave this illustrious Virginian to stand 
here in this magnificent shrine, where are collected the chief souvenirs 
of your country's glorious past, it is well for us to remember not only 
that Washington was the beloved of his own people, and the Commander- 
in-Chief of the armies of America; but also that your own nation did 
him the signal honor of placing its soldiers and sailors under his com- 
mand, and of commissioning him as a Lieuetnant-General of its armies 
and as an Admiral in the Navy of France. 

The Statue Unveiled 

Upon the conclusion of the address of presentation, the Virginia flag 
which draped the statue was withdrawn by Comte Aldebert de Chambrun, a 
captain in the French army, now military attache at Washington, who is a 
great grandson of Washington's warm personal friend and America's great 
champion, General La Fayette. As Houdon's great masterpiece was uncovered, 
revealing Virginia's most famous son, and America's greatest soldier, states- 
man and citizen, in the uniform which he wore in the service of his country, 
the audience as one man rose to its feet, and amid the waving of flags and 
handkerchiefs, to the stirring strains of la Marseillaise, thundered forth 
that applause which goes out from the heart only to the hero who stands 
pre-eminent among his fellows. The French vied with the Americans in 
this burst of genuine and spontaneous approval. The statue appealed to 



of Washington to the People of France 31 

their eyes, and the history of the man found a responsive chord in their 
hearts. 

Address of General Brun 

When the applause had subsided, General Brun came forward and grace- 
fully accepted the statue on behalf of the people of France in the following 
well chosen words: 

DISCOURS DU GENERAL BRUN, 

Ministre de la Ouerre. 
Messieurs : 

En offrant a la France cette statue, fidele image de I'immortel 
fondateur de la patrie amgricaine, oeuvre geniale et simple du plus 
grand artiste de I'ecole frangaise du dix-huitieme sit>cle, vos concitoyens 
ne pouvaient faire un geste plus flatteur, plus digne d'etre ici gotlte 
et apprecie de tous. Aussi, messieurs, en vous apportant les chaleu- 
reux remerciements du gouvernement de la Republique, je suis sQr 
d'etre I'interprete de la nation tout enti^re. 

Washington! A ce nom, messieurs, que de grands souvenirs 
s'evoquent! que d'enthousiasmes s'evillent! que de lumiSres 
eclatantes et pures jaillissent! C'est que le p6re de la grande patrie 
des Etats-Unis d'Amerique ne domine pas seulement de sa haute 
stature de patriote et d'homme d'Etat I'evenement peut-etre le plus 
considerable des temps modernes, il apparait, orne de toutes les vertus 
civiques et militaires, dans ce cadre grandiose de I'ceuvre de votre 
emancipation. La Grece et Rome ont fagonne des heros a sa taille; 
c'est la que sont les egaux de celui que le grand poete anglais Byron 
separation de la m^re patrie: "Les evenements, disait Monson, qui 
appellera le Cincinnatus de I'Occident. 

Ne serait-ce, messieurs, que pour cette trainee de lumiere qui, a 
travers le monde, depuis plus d'un si^cle, 6mane du nom de Washing- 
ton, la France se ferait un devoir d'honorer votre heros national. II y 
a longtemps que, sans vouloir porter ombrage a des amities qui lui 
sont devenues particuliorement precieuses, elle a souscrit h ce jugement 
qu'un des diplomates les plus distingues de I'Angleterre, sir Edmund 
Monson, portait il y a quelque dix ans sur le conflit qui amena votre 
ont jadls divise les voies de nos deux nations, nous apparaissent 
aujourd'hui comme ayant 6t6 la source de ce qu'il y a de plus 
precieux dans la civilisation contemporaine et de ce qui pent le plus 
utilement contribuer dans I'avenir au progrt-s de I'un et I'autre pays." 

Et si I'cBuvre en elle-meme n'etait pas suflBsamment belle, qui ne 
se laisserait seduire par la grandeur et le genie de I'ouvrier ? Soldat 
incomparable par I'energie toujours active, le calme resigne et patient, 
la foi indestructible avec laquelle, au nom d'un principe immuable 
de justice, il poursuit la conquete de la liberte pour ceux qui lui 
ont config leur destinge et leur vie. Citoyen accompli par son re- 
spect pour la loi et le droit, homme d'Etat admirable par son in- 
difference pour les honneurs et le pouvoir qu'il repousse volontiers, 
ne consentant a sortir de I'ombre que pour toujours servir son 



32 Presentation of a Copy of Houdons Statue 

pays, et dressant par la beauts de son exemple, la barridre la plus 
insurmontable aux app6tits, aux intrigues et i la tyrannie. 

Mais la France avait d'autres raisons pour demeurer fidC'le a 
la m^moire de Washington, et rien ne pouvait le lui rappeler de 
fagon plus sensible que votre offrande. Lorsque se posa devant le 
monde civilis6 le probleme de votre Emancipation, il se manifesta en 
France pour la cause de la libre Am^rique un de ces courants 
d'invincible sympathie, auquel ne purent 6chapper ni la cour, ni 
la ville, qui ebranla la masse du peuple, faisant d6ja pressentir 
ce que serait I'Slan revolutionnaire le jour oil la nation, prenant 
conscience de sa force, entrerait elle-meme dans la lice pour con- 
querir son independance et dgfendre sa libertg. C'est toutes les 
sympathies de la France qui accompagnerent dans leur exode vers 
votre continent La Fayette et les voloutaires frangais, prOts a vous y 
faire le sacrifice de leurs biens et de leur vie. Aussi, les succes 
du corps de Rocharabeau et de I'amiral de Grasse au si6ge de York- 
town furent-ils accueillis et celebres chez nous comme des victoires 
frangaises. 

Messieurs, nous garderons pieusement cette statue qui ne re- 
veillera parmi nous que des souvenirs sublimes. Elle ne pent etre 
mieux plac6e que dans ce palais de Versailles oil fut sign§ le 
traite qui consacra definitivement le triomphe d'une cause pour 
laquelle le sang frangais s'6tait mel6 au vStre sur maints champs 
de bataille. Elle ne pent etre mieux plac6e qu'au seuil de cette 
salle du congres oH les Chambres reunies en assemblee nationale 
viennent periodiquement elire le president de la Republique frangaise. 

Elle nous rappellera et gravera au fond de nos cceurs ces mots 
par lesquels le grand Washington saluait a son depart pour la 
France La Fayette qu'il ne devait plus revoir: "En vous voyant 
partir, 11 me semble voir s'61oigner de moi cette genereuse France 
qui nous a tant aimes, et que j'ai aim6e en vous aimant." 

Puisse I'image de I'illustre liberateur de la Nouvelle-Angleterre 
rendre sans cesse pr6sente aux mandataires de la nation la recon- 
naissance que vous vouez a notre patrie! Puissent les deux r6pu- 
bliques soeurs demeurer sans cesse plus unies dans un meme ideal 
de foi patriotique, de justice et delibert6! 

(translation.) 

ADDRESS OP GENERAL BRUN, 

Minister of War. 
Gentlemen: 

In offering to France this statue, faithful image of the immortal 
founder of the American nation, a work full of genius and simplicity 
of the greatest artist of the French school of the 18th century, your 
fellow citizens could not have conceived an attention more flattering, 
more worthy to be welcomed and appreciated here. Therefore, gentle- 
men, in conveying to you the heartfelt thanks of the Government of 
the Republic, I am sure of being the spokesman of the whole nation. 

Washington! At that name, gentlemen, what great memories are 






Genera] Briin 
The French Minister of War, loho received tht 
; the people of France 



statue on behalf of 




32 



Preseniation of a Cop-y of Hottdons Statue 



pays, et dressant par la beauts de boh exemple, la barrl^re ]a pint, 
insurmontable aux app^tits, aux Intrigues ct h ia tyrannic. 



Mais la France ? 
Ik ni^molre de Waplu 
facon plus sensibN 
Doonde clvilisS le : 
France pour la ■ 
d'iuvincible ?'- 
la vllle. qui 



■ res raisong pour • !e l\ 

viPT) nr pouvait ■ de 

Lorsque ee posa <ii:\v.xii le 

Ipation, il 86 manifesia en 

ibre Aatferlque un de ces courants 

ae puree t <rchapper ni la cour, nl 

du peupie, fsiisant d6ja pressentir 

' la nation, prenant 

I?, lice pour con- 

'outes les 

i a^ <ode vers 

:< volont-aires fran -^ vous y 

..viifc et de leur vie. ><....>=, us Buccfes 

de raniiral de Grasse au aigge de York- 

utjiiis ot c^Wbrfe Chez nous comrae des victoires 



vp.t): 



nl cette statue qui ne r6- 

sublimes. Elle ne peut fetre 

que dane ce palais de Versailles oH fut sign6 ie 




ae bataille. Elle ne ^<^^r^'^ .^^^tgiflac^e qu';^ 

salle du congrfes oil les Chambres r^unies en assembl^e nationale 

viennent perlodiquemsnt 61ire le presidentde la RSpublique fraiu; •■ 

Elle nous rappellera et gravera au fond de nos oosurs cesi 
par lesquels ie grand Washington saluait fi son depart pc. 
France I<a Fh^i-'.h "iMI ua vlevair imik revoir- 'y.n v,.;;~: 
partir, 11 bs* 
qui noun a *.:•> 

Puisae V. i ugleterre 

I ■ ia recon- 

^eux r6pu- 
bliqutvs uttus un meme id6al 

de fol poj : 



ADI .LBRUN, 

.^i-nntter Of War. 
Gentu^men : 

In offering to France this statue, faithful image of the immortal 
founder of the American nation, a work full of genius and simplicity 
of the greatest artist of the French school of the iSth century, your 
fellow citizens could not have concflved au attention more 
more v-orthy to be welcomed and aispreciated here. Ther-^f- 
men, in conveying to you the heartfelt thanks of the at of 

the Republic, I am sure of being the spokesman of the ^ _iion. 

Washington! At that name, gentJemen, what greai memories are 



of Washington to the People of France 33 



evoked! What enthusiasms are awakened! What pure and brilliant 
lights are kindled. 

And why? Because the Father of that great country, the United 
States of America, not only dominates by his tall stature of patriot and 
statesman the most considerable event perhaps of modern times, but 
stands forth graced with every civic and military virtue, on that 
grand background of the work of your emancipation. Greece and 
Rome fashioned heroes of his sort; there can we find the equals of 
him whom the great English poet, Byron, has called the "Cincinnatus 
of the West." 

Were it only, gentlemen, for that long trail of light, which, through 
the world, for over a century, has eminated from the name of Washing- 
ton, France would esteem it a duty to honor your national hero. She 
has long since subscribed to the judgment which a distinguished Eng- 
lish diplomat, Sir Edward Monson, expressed some ten years ago on 
the conflict which brought about your separation from the Mother coun- 
try: "The events," said Monson, "which once separated the paths of 
our two nations, appear to us now as having been the source of what 
is most precious in today's civilization and in what can most usefully 
contribute in the future to the progress of both countries." 

And if the work itself were not glorious enough, who would not 
be seduced by the grandeur and genius of the workman? A soldier, 
incomparable for his ever active energy, his calm and resigned pa- 
tience, the indestructible faith with which, in the name of an Immu- 
table principle of justice, he pursues the conquest of liberty for those 
who have confided to him their destinies and their lives. A model 
citizen for his respect of law and order, a statesman admirable for his 
indifference to honors and to power, which he willingly throws aside, 
consenting to step forth from his retirement only to serve his country, 
and raising by the nobleness of his example the most insurmountable 
barrier to greed, intrigue and tyranny. 

But France has other reasons for remaining faithful to the mem- 
ory of Washington, and nothing could remind her of this better than 
your gift. When to the civilized world was proposed the problem of 
your emancipation, there was manifested in France, for the cause of 
free America, one of those currents of invincible sympathy which 
neither court nor country could escape, and which stirred the mass of 
the people, foreshadowing what would be our own revolutionary enthu- 
siasm the day when our nation, becoming conscious of its strength, 
should itself enter the lists to conquer its independence and defend its 
liberty. All the sympathies of France accompanied in their exodus to 
your continent La Fayette and the French volunteers, ready to offer to 
you there the sacrifice of their fortunes and of their lives. And the 
successful feats of the army of Rochambeau and of Admiral de Grasse 
at the seige of Yorktown were hailed and celebrated by us as though 
they were French victories. 

Gentlemen, we will reverently keep this statue which will awake 
among us only sublime memories. It cannot be better placed than in 
this Palace of Versailles where was signed the Treaty that definitely 



34 Presentation of a Copy of Houdons Statue 

consecrated the triumph of a cause for which French blood had been 
mingled with yours on many a battlefield. It cannot be better placed 
than at the threshold of that Congress Hall where the Chajnbers, united 
in a National Assembly, come periodically to elect the President of the 
French Republic. It will recall to us, and will engrave in the depths 
of our hearts, the words with which the great Washington saluted, on 
his departure for France, La Fayette, whom he was never again to see: 
"In seeing you depart, it seems to me I see go from me that generous 
France, which has loved us so well, and which I love in loving you." 
May the image of the illustrious one who freed the United States 
render ever present to the representatives of our nation the gratitude 
with which you honor our country; may the two sister Republics re- 
main ever more and more united in one same ideal of patriotic faith, 
of justice and of liberty. 

Address of M. Jusserand 

Upon the conclusion of his discourse. General Brun introduced M. Jean 
J. Jusserand, Ambassador from France to the United States, who acted as 
the special representative of the Ministre des Affaires Etrangeres, and who 
delivered with all the vim and grace of the orator and scholar he is, the 
magnificent address which follows: 

DISCOURS DE M. JUSSERAND. 
Ambassadeur de France aux Etats-Unis. 

Dans ce palais consacre " a toutes les gloires de la France " 
I'image de Washington offerte a notre nation par I'Etat de Virginie 
vient de prendre place. 

Get edifice convenait pour I'abriter : I'amitie de Washington 
et celle du peuple americain pour nous sont une de nos gloires. 

Ghez nous, Washington n'est pas un etranger. II a commande 
des armees frangaises. Rochambeau, qui avait vu deja et devait voir 
encore par la suite tant de guerres, envoyait k Washington, en 
arrivant aux Etats-Unis, la copie de ses " instructions " et y joi- 
gnait une copie de ses " instructions secretes " car, disait-il, pour 
noon chef, je ne saurais avoir aucun secret. Et tons deux commen- 
gaient alors cette memorable campagne de guerre, si differente de 
tant d'autres, qui avait pour objet, non pas un asservissement, mais 
une emancipation. 

Washington a encore sa place marquee parmi nous parce qu'il 
fut citoyen frangais. A peine notre pays s'etait-il donne, comme 
I'Amerique, des institutions libres, que I'AssemblSe legislative d6- 
cldait que " tons ceux qui, dans les diverses contr6es du monde, 
ont milri la raison humaine et prepare les voles de la liberty, 
devaient etre regard^s comme les allies du peuple frangais ". Wash- 
ington, alors president, fut proclame citoyen frangais par decret du 
24 aoflt de cette mOme ann6e 1792 qui allait etre I'an ler de notre 
Rgpublique. 



of Washington to the People of France 35 

Sa mort fut pour la France un deuil national. Seule, lorsque 
les treize Etats avaient, a un moment tragique de la guerre de 
rindependance, lance leur appel au monde, demandant un appui 
et une alliance, la France avait repondu. Seule, losque le fondateur 
de rUnion disparut, elle prit le deuil; les oflaciers de I'armee frangaise 
porterent le crOpe; sur les monuments publics, les drapeaux furent 
abaisses a mi-mat et une ceremonie funebre sans exemple dans 
I'histoire reunit au Temple de Mars, comme on appelait alors lea 
Invalides, tout ce que la race comptait de plus illustre, avec Bona- 
parte, premier consul, en tete du cortege, pour entendre I'eloge, par 
Fontanes, du grand citoyen, notre ancien alli6, et I'objet de notre 
admiration. 

Pour honorer encore cette memoire, un projet fut etudie, qui 
ne devait etre realise que bien plus tard, celui d'eriger en France 
une statue a Washington. " Un peuple, " disait dans son rapport 
le ministre des relations exterieures (Talleyrand), " un peuple qui 
sera un jour un grand peuple, qui aujourd'hui est le peuple le plus 
sage et le plus heureux de la terre, pleure la mort de I'homme 
qui, par son courage et son genie, contribua le plus a. I'affranchir 
du joug pour I'elever au rang des nations independantes et souveraines. 

" La France qui, des I'ourore de la Revolution americaine, pres- 
sentit tout ce que I'humanite pouvait retirer de gloire et la politique 
de lumi&res de la nouvelle espece d'institutions sociales et du nouveau 
genre d'heroisme dont Washington et I'Amerique allaient offrir des 
modeles au monde, la France, dis-je, doit s'ecarter des regies com- 
munes pour celebrer une renommee qui ne s'est formee sur aucun 
exemple. " 

Pour la troisifime fois, depuis lors, une statue offerte par nos 
anciens allies, est 6rigee sur le sol frangais k la mSmoire de Wash- 
ington. Nous devons celle-ci h cet Etat de Virginie qui joua dans 
la guerre de I'lndSpendance et dans toute I'histoire du pays un 
role si considerable, oil la France compte tant d'amis, oil le Pere de la 
patrie americaine vit le jour et oil il dort maintenant son dernier 
sommeil. Ainsi que M. le ministre de la guerre I'a 61oquemment 
indique, la France entiere est reconnaissante 3, la Virginie. 

L'oeuvre est digne du heros dont elle perpetue les traits ; elle 
est due a Houdon a qui des portraits dessines avaient d'abord et6 
soumis par Franklin et Jefferson, mais qui voulut taire le voyage 
afin que I'image d'un si grand homme fQt exactement conserv6e. Elle 
Test, en effet; et nous avons sous les yeux un Washington vivant, 
noble d'expression, simple d'attitude, celui-ia meme que connurent, 
chgrirent et admirSrent La Fayette, Chastellux, Rochambeau. Tel 
il 6tait lorsqu'il s'entretenait avec eux, tel nous le voyons. 

A Yorktown, I'independance americaine fut conquise ; a Ver- 
sailles, elle fut consacree. Ce fut le grand evonement de I'annee 1783. 
Un autre evenement, simple incident, pourrait-on croire, k cote de 
celui-la, marqua la meme annee. Quinze jours aprds que la paix 
avait ete signee, une montgolflere s'elevait devant ce meme palais 
de Versailles oa nous nous trouvons, — invention, disait depuis Berthe- 



36 Presentation of a Copy of Houdons Staiue 

lot, qui 6crivait pourtant avant I'heure du colonel Renard, des freres 
Wright, gloire de I'Amerique, des Blgriot, Latham, Paulhan, Rolls, 
Leblanc, Aubrun et tant d'autres, — invention destinee a r6volutionner 
plus profond6ment le monde qu'aucune de celles qui I'ont prgced6e. 

La paix de Versailles signiflait Emancipation; I'invention des 
Montgolfier signiflait aussi Emancipation. 

Washington est vraiment a sa place ici ; il est entourE de ses 
compagnons d'armes : La Fayette, Rochambeau, d'Estaing, de Grasse 
et cet admirable Suffren qui, combattant a I'autre bout du monde 
pour I'independance americane, fit autant que pas un pour sa con- 
qu6te. Mais surtout il demeurera entoure h jamais, ainsi que vous 
I'avez voulu, Messieurs les dElegues de Virginie, de la foule frangaise; 
cette meme foule, ce meme peuple qui s'enthousiasma jadis pour la 
cause des Etats-Unis et qui demeure aujourd'hui encore le mCme, aussi 
ardent, aussi capable d'enthousiasme, aussi jeune, aussi fort. 

Un long passe historique ne fait pas une nation vielle; ce qui 
la vieillit, c'est I'affaissement interieur, c'est la perte de la foi en 
elie-mOme, le renoncement a la lutte, la sterilitS de coeur et d'esprit, 
rimitation remplagant I'invention, I'accroissement de Tegoisme chez 
I'individu, I'affaiblissement des courages. II n'est pas temeraire de 
dire que de ces maux, ni vous, Americans, ni nous, Frangais, ne 
sommes menaces. Si Washington revenait au monde, il retrouverait 
dans ces masses populaires qui se presseront les dimanches autour 
de la statue, les hemes Frangais qu 'il a connus, dont il se plaisait a 
louer les vertus militaires, et dont il admirait la chaleur de coeur, 
I'esprit fecond, la passion pour les idees genereuses. 

On associe habituellement I'idSe du temps il celle de la mort: 

Le temps avec la mort, d'un vol infatigable. . . 

Mais le temps n'est pas seulement la Mort, c'est aussi la Nais- 
sance. Sur les evenements que nous rappelle I'image de Washington, 
le temps a passe et a fait son oeuvre. La jeune Republique fond6e 
par le heros americain a depasse ses propres esperances, elle est 
restee une, comme il souhaitait et elle est devenue la grande R6- 
publique de I'Occident. Fait memorable: au cours des ans, les 
anciennes animosites se sont effacees; I'ennemi de 1783 est devenu 
rami d'aujourd'hui, I'ami Eprouve de la France et celui des Etats- 
Unis. Une chose demeure intacte, et le temps n'a fait que I'affermir : 
les sympathies franco-americaines. dont I'offre de la statue de Wash- 
ington par I'Etat de Virginie est un nouveau et precieux temoignage. 

(tbanslation.) 

ADDRESS OF M. JUSSERAND, 

French Ambassador to the United States. 

In this palace, consecrated "to all the glories of France," the image 
of Washington offered to our nation by the State of Virginia has now 
taken its place. 



M. Jean J. Jusserand 
Ambassador of France to the United F^tates 



PreserUaiion of a Copu !>f 1J< 



^ tUafh. 



lot 

Lebianc, An 
plus profou 

Montgr'*^ — 

wv 

et 

IK. 

If, 



lancipation; 



.» levuiutiouiitT 
I'ODt pr#c6d6e. 
rinventloa des 



1 est entoilrfe de- ses 
(I'Estaing, de Grasse 
t'-e bout du monde 
\n pour sa con- 
u ainsi que vous 

liie, de la foule francaise; 
ft; liousiasma jadts pour la 

«.. iiui encore le mome, aussi 

. i;:si jeune, aussi fort. 

lit pas uiif nation vie!!*;-, ce qui 

liuut iutt ' ' Ja foi en 

'I 'n ■'u. I et d'esprit, 

iiiiatatjoii rempiagani J i acc-roiaseiuent de regoi&me chez 

I'indivldu, raffaibllssenjo'-- . _ ...irages. II n'est pas t6m6raire de 

dire que de oes nmux, ui vous, Americans, ni nous, FranQais, ne 

Bommes mena< 68. Si Washington revenait au monde, 11 retrouverait 

dans cesrs masses popmtfll^^iS'^^ifiV'seV'pS^^Wda'^ les dimanches autour 

dc la statue«4fei<^<''ip^5^a5jW3p,i«^cBt)KH-v?l (^iMteoadoatttfi. se plaisait h 

louer les vertus militaires, et dont il admirait la chaleur de coeur, 

Vesprit f6cond, la passion pour les id6es gen^reuses. 

On associo ",iab.'tuc'I'.n>iit I'idfe du temps a. ceile de ia mort' 

:nort, d'un vol Infatigable. . . 



Boulement la Wort r'v 

n, 

- . ..dSe 

■\e est 

» liude R6- 

itf ans, les 

; est devenu 

• ;i des Etats- 

u a rait gue Taffermir : 

.:'re de la statue de Wash- 



eance. 

le temi..: = 

par le h6f • 

restfie une, r.i,r 

publique de IT' 

anciennes animosite^ 

rami d'aujourd bui, '■. 

Unls. Une chose demeur 

les sympathies franco-an; 

ington par I'Etat de Virginie est un nouveau et pr6cleux t^moignage. 

(tbakslation.) 

ADDRESS OF M. JUSSERAND, 

French Ambassador to the United States. 

In this palace, consecrated "to all the glories of France," the Image 
of Washington offered to our nation by the State of Virginia has now 

taken its place. 



of Washington to the People of France 37 

This edifice is well fitted to shelter it: the friendship of Wash- 
ington and of the American people for us are one of our glories. 

To us, Washington is not a foreigner. He has commanded French 
Armies. Rochambeau, who had already seen, and was yet to see in 
the future, so many wa'rs, on his arrival in the United States sent to 
Washington a copy of his "instructions" attaching thereto a copy of 
his "secret instructions," for said he, "For my chief I can have no 
secret." And the two commenced then that memorable campaign of 
war, so different from many others, that had for its object not con- 
quest, but emancipation. 

Washington has his place marked among us also because he was 
a French citizen. Hardly had our country, like America, given itself 
free institutions, than the Legislative Assembly decided that "all 
those who, in the various countries of the world had ripened human 
reason and prepared the ways of liberty, should be regarded as allies 
of the French people." Washington, then President, was proclaimed 
a French citizen by decree of the 24th of August of the same year 
1792, which was to be the year one of our Republic. 

His death was for France a national mourning. Alone, when the 
thirteen States had, at a tragic moment of the War of Independence, 
sent forth their appeal to the world asking for support and an alliance, 
France had responded. Alone, when the founder of the Union left 
this world, she went into mourning; the officers of the French army 
wore crepe; on the public buildings flags were lowered to half-mast, 
and at a funeral ceremony unexampled in history, there gathered at 
the "Temple of Mars," as the "Invalides" was then called, all that 
France counted most illustrious, with Bonaparte, First Consul, head- 
ing the cortege, to hear the eulogy by Fontanes of the great citizen, 
our former ally, and the object of our admiration. 

To honor that memory yet more a project was studied, which was 
to be realized only much later, that of erecting to Washington a statue 
in France. 

"A people," wrote in his report the Minister of Foreign Relations 
(Talleyrand), "a, people that will one day be a great people, and is 
today the wisest and the happiest on earth, mourns the death of the 
man who by his courage and his genius contributed more than any 
other to freeing it from the yoke and to raising it to the rank of an 
independent and sovereign nation. 

"France, who, from the dawn of the American Revolution, under- 
stood all that humanity might gather of glory, and politics of light, 
from the new kind of social institutions and the new sort of heroism 
of which Washington and America were going to offer examples to 
the world, France, I say, must swerve from ordinary customs to cele- 
brate a renown which modeled itself on no example." 

For the third time since then, a statue offered by our old allies 
is erected on French soil to the memory of Washington. We owe this 
one to that State of Virginia which played in the War of Independence, 
and in all the history of the nation, so considerable a part, in which 



38 Preseniation of a Copy of Hoiidons Statue 

France counts so many friends, and where the Father of his Country 
now sleeps his last sleep. All France is grateful to Virginia. 

The work is worthy of the hero whose features it perpetuates; it 
is due to Houdon, to whom drawings had first been submitted by 
Franklin and Jefferson, but who chose to make the journey in order 
that the likeness of so great a man should be exactly preserved. It 
has been indeed; and we have before our eyes a living Washington, 
noble in expression, simple in attitude, the very one known, cherished 
and admired by La Fayette, Chastellux, Rochambeau. Such as he was 
when he conversed with them, such we see him. 

At Yorktown, American independence was won; at "Versailles it was 
consecrated. That was the great event of the year 1783. Another 
event, a mere incident beside that, one might think, marked the same 
year: two weeks after the peace had been signed, Montgolfier's balloon 
rose before this very Palace of Versailles where we now are — an inven- 
tion, said Berthelot, writing much later, but yet before the days of 
Colonel Renard; of the Wright brothers, pride of America; of Bleriot, 
Latham, Paulhan, Rolls, Leblanc, Aubrun and so many others — an 
invention destined to revolutionize the world more profoundly than 
any which has preceded it. The peace of Versailles signified emanci- 
pation; the brothers Montgolfier's invention also signified emancipa- 
tion. 

Washington is here truly in his place; he is surrounded by his 
comrades in arms: La Fayette, Rochambeau, d'Estaing, de Grasse and 
that admirable Suffren, who, fighting at the other end of the world 
for American independence, did as much as any for its accomplish- 
ment. But above all he will remain surrounded forever, even as you 
gentlemen from Virginia have wished, by the people of France, that 
same people so enthusiastic of yore for the cause of the United States, 
and who yet today remains the same, as ardent, as capable of enthu- 
siasm, as young, as strong. 

A long historical past does not make a nation old; what ages it 
is the inward weakening, the loss of faith in itself, the giving up of 
the fight, sterility of heart and mind, imitation replacing invention, 
increase of egotism in the individual, decrease of courage. It is not 
rash to say that with these evils neither you Americans nor we French 
are threatened. If Washington were to come back to life, he would 
find in those popular masses that on Sundays will crowd around his 
statue, the same French whom he knew, whose military virtues he 
liked to praise and whom he admired for their warmth of heart, their 
fertile minds, their responsiveness to generous ideas. 

It is customary to associate the idea of time with that of death: 

"Le Temps avec la mort, d'un vol infatigable". . . . 
("Time with death, in tireless flight.") 

But time is not only death, it is also birth. On the events which 
the image of Washington recalls to us, time has passed and done its 
work. The young Republic founded by the American hero has Bur- 



of Washington to the People of France 39 

passed his own hopes, it has remained one, as he wished, and it has 
become the great Republic of the West. With the course of years, 
the old animosities have been effaced; the enemy of 1783 has become 
the friend of today, the tried friend of France and of the United 
States. One thing remains intact, and time has but strengthened it: 
French and American sympathies, of which the offer of Washington's 
statue by the State of Virginia is a new and valuable token. 

M. Jusserand, after his formal address, added a few graceful words in 
English expressive of his admiration of General Washington and of the 
pleasure he felt at the friendship and appreciation on the part of the people 
of Virginia towards the people of France which was given such fitting evi- 
dence in the presentation of this statue. He concluded his remarks most 
happily by praising the American soldiers, to whom he referred as "the only 
ones against whom the soldiers of France had never fought, and would never 
fight." 

The ceremonies, which had been marked by enthusiasm throughout, were 
concluded by the playing of "America" while the audience stood at attention. 

After having accepted an invitation from M. de Nolhac, the distinguished 
and learned conservateur du palais, to return on the Monday following, when 
the palace would not be opened to the public, and go through the magnificent 
pile, where are collected so many intensely interesting souvenirs of the great- 
ness and glories of France, the commissioners and their wives returned by 
automobile to Paris, stopping en route to take tea informally with Ambas- 
sador and Mrs. Bacon at Pre Catalan in the Bois de Bolougne. 



Le Tombeau de La Fayette 



On Saturday, August 20, 1910, the anniversary of the day on which La 
Fayette joined the American Army as a member of the staff of General 
Washington, with the rank of Major-General, but at first without command, 
the commission, by direction of your Excellency, placed a wreath upon the 
tomb of this great friend of America, who, when a choice of commands was 
offered him, had selected a division composed entirely of Virginians. 

The ceremony was very simple and informal, but most impressive. The 
tomb of this great Frenchman is in a quiet corner of the small, private 
Cimetiere de Picpus, in the outskirts of Paris, where are buried members 
of many of the most distinguished families of France. In a section separated 
by a wall from La Fayette's tomb lie some thirteen hundred of the nobility 
of France, victims of the guilotine. A simple marble slab, such as was much 
used at that period, covers the grave, over which there floats always an 
American flag, which is replaced from time to time by one of the American 
patriotic societies of Paris. 

The members of the commission, accompanied by their wives, Comte 
Charles de Chambrun, a grandson of Virginie de La Fayette; Mr. Bailly- 
Blanchard, First Secretary of the American Embassy; and Mr. and Mrs. 
Nathaniel Beaman, of Norfolk, Virginia, who had been invited to accompany 
them, left their hotel at ten o'clock in the morning, and half an hour later 



40 Presentation of a Copy of Hovdons Statue 

were standing with heads reverently uncovered by the tomb of LaFayette. 
A beautiful laurel wreath had been provided, from which flowed silk stream- 
ers of blue and white, the colors of Virginia. Attached was a card bearing 
the words: "The Governor of Virginia, August 20, 1910." 

The chairman turned to Comte de Chambrun and said: "By direction 
of the Governor of Virginia, we have come on this anniversary of the day 
on which General La Fayette first unsheathed his sword for the cause of 
American liberty, to place above his grave this wreath of laurels, as an 
evidence of the tender affection and loving esteem in which all Virginians 
hold his memory." Mrs. Mann then placed the wreath upon the tomb. Comte 
de Chambrun seemed greatly touched and expressed in a few words his 
family's grateful acknowledgments of the honor shown to his distinguished 
ancestor, recalling the feeling of affection that the latter had always held 
for General Washington and for Virginia. 



Social Entertainments 

Apart from the intensely interesting events above related, and to par- 
ticipate in which the commission had come to Paris, many social pleasures 
were in store for the commissioners and their wives. 

DINNER AT THE AMERICAN EMBASSY. 

On the evening of August 18th, a brilliant dinner was given in their 
honor at the magnificent home of the American Ambassador. The table was 
a mass of beautiful fiowers, and the dinner was all that an epicure might 
desire. A delightful company had been invited to meet the Virginians and 
the occasion was one of much pleasure and enjoyment. 

Among the guests of Ambassador and Mrs. Bacon were: 
The chairman of the Virginia Commission and Mrs. Mann, Senator and 
Mrs. Don P. Halsey, Senator and Mrs. Floyd W. King, General Brun, the 
French Minister of War; the French Ambassador at Washington and Mme. 
Jusserand; M. Hanotaux, formerly Minister of Foreign Affairs and presi- 
dent of the France-Amerique Society; the Governor of the Banque de France 
and Mme. Pallain, Marquis de La Fayette, Vicomte Dejean, Comte de Cham- 
brun, Mr. Howard N. Thompson, and the Secretaries of the American Embassy, 
Mr. Bailly-Blanchard, Mr. Scholle and Mr. Gunther. 

GUESTS OF THE PRESIDENT. 

When the commission reached Paris, we were informed that President 
Fallieres was in Switzerland, and would not return until the following week. 
Invitations were handed to us, however, to enjoy the President's box at 
rOpera on the night of August 19th, and at the Theatre Francaise on the 
following Tuesday night, and to take luncheon with the President and Mme. 
Fallieres at the Chateau de Rambouillet, their summer home, on Thursday, 



Comte Aldebert <le Chamhruu. 

Gif at Grandson of Gen. La Fayette, iclw unfiled the statue 



.n's Sf.if,..- 



of t 
on 



.3 a ctu*a bearing 

Hod said: 

■nniversary l>j. i.M- ('..r 

ord for the cause of 

A laurels, as an 

h all Virginians 

3mb. Comte 

•••' worda his 

As distinguished 

1-; had always held 



sting events above related, and to par- 
!t!d come to Paris, many social pleasures 
.w \v \ <S wi jiiAl:^ dill }rbad-">M^^i jwoO 

DINNER AT THE AMERICAN EMBASSY. 

On the evnlnjj of Ans^ii?^ ""^th. a briUla-nt dinner \^-a? ^iven in fheir 
honor at the :'.? 

a mass of be; „ .^. ... „. . 

ii?sire. A delighi meet the Virginians i. 

the • - 



The 
Mrs. Do! 

French Minister • 
Jusscrand; M. H-^^..- 
dent of the France- Am 
and Mme. Pallain, Mar 
brun, Mr. Howard N. T' 
Mr. Bailly-Blanchard, Mr. Sciioil^ ixh 



! Mme. 

i presi- 

France 

" Lif Cham- 

m Embassy, 



GUESTS OF THE PRESIDENT. 

When til Ion reached Paris, we were informed that President 

Fallieres wa- .. ^ ...... rland, and would n^t 'Kturn until the followin*' wppU 

Invitations were handed to us, howevf .v the President'^ 

rOpera on tl- ' ^ ' 19th, anu ai i...- Theatre T^ 

following Tib take luncheon with the Pr 

Fallieres at the CLaieau do Ikambouillet, their summer home, ^ 



of Washington to the People of France 41 

August 25th. The chairman's invitation to the luncheon was as follows, 
similar invitations being received by all of the commissioners and their 
wives: 

Le President de la Repuhlique prie Monsieur le Colonel James 
Mann, President de la delegation de VEtat de Virginie, de lui 
faire Vhonneur de venir dejeuner au Chateau de Rambouillet, le 
Jeudi, 25 Aout, a midi %. 

R. 8. v. P. 

Depart de Paris: Gare des Invalides a 10 h. 39. 
Retour, arrivee a Paris: Gare Montparnasse a 3 h. 52. 

SIGURD A L'OPERA. 

On Friday night, August 19th, the commissioners and their wives 
occupied the President's box at I'Opera and enjoyed a rare musical treat. 
"Sigurd" was sung by the following artists: Sigurd, M. Granal; Gunther, 
M. Danges; Hagen, M. Gresse; Un Pretre d'Odin, M. Duclos; Brunehilde, 
Mme. Bourdon; Hilda, Mme. Dubois-Lauger; Erta, Mme. Charny, supported 
by an excellent caste and a magnificent corps de ballet. The Opera House, 
at the head of the famous Avenue de I'Opera, is the largest theatre in the 
world, covering nearly three acres. Its most striking interior features per- 
haps are the beautiful Grand Staircase, or Escalier d'Honneur, of white 
marble, rosso antico, and Algerian onyx; and the great Foyer du Public 
where one sees all Paris en promenade between acts. Both the exterior and 
the interior of this great palace of music are magnificent throughout. 

AT THE MOLIERE THEATRE. 

On the Tuesday night following, our party were accorded the courtesy 
of the President's box at the Theatre Francais, where two plays were pre- 
sented: Moliere's "Scapin" and a play entitled "Les Deux Menages." It 
is hardly necessary to say that in this national theatre, the great home of 
classic art, where only artists are allowed to appear, the acting was of the 
best. In the vestibule and foyer and other halls through which the audience 
may promenade between acts are many most interesting statues and busts 
of famous French dramatists and actors, among the most interesting being 
the statue of Voltaire by Houdon, and the bust of Dumas the Elder by Chapu. 
At I'Opera and at the Theatre Francais, the commissioners had the pleasure 
of having as their guests Mr. and Mrs. Beaman, of Norfolk. 

DEJEUNER AU CHATEAU DE RAMBOUILLET. 

The luncheon at Rambouillet was an occasion of much pleasure to the 
members of the commission and their wives. On the morning of Thursday, 
August 25th, we met, at the Gare des Invalides, the others who had been 
invited by the President, and left in a private car, under the escort of M. 
Armand Mollard, directeur du protocole, for Rambouillet, which is about 
forty miles from Paris. Arriving at our destination we were met by Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Griache, a member of the President's official household, and 



42 Presentation of a Copy of Houdons Statiue 

conveyed in carriages to the Chateau, where we were presented to the Presi- 
dent and Mme. Fallieres by Ambassador Bacon, who had accompanied us 
from Paris. We were greeted most cordially by the President, who expressed 
his grateful appreciation, and that of the people of France, of the gift we had 
presented, and the motive which had prompted the General Assembly of 
Virginia to send the Statue of Washington as a gift to France. The chair- 
man, on behalf of the commission, expressed the pleasure it had given us 
to come as the bearers of this token of aifection and grateful remembrance, 
and the appreciation of the members of the commission of the cordial and 
delightful manner in which we had been received. He also presented to the 
President the compliments and good wishes of the Governor of Virginia, and 
was requested by the President to convey to your Excellency the assurance 
of his high regard and esteem. After greetings and compliments had been 
exchanged, the President offered his arm to Mrs. Mann and led the way to 
the state dining-room, where a delightful dejeuner in courses was served, 
during which the President proposed the health of the Governor of Virginia 
and of the members of the commission. The chairman responded in a few 
words, and proposed the health of the President, and of those who had ren- 
dered the performance of our mission so pleasant a duty. We then adjourned 
to la Salle de Jeu, where coffee was served, after which we were escorted 
through the Chateau and shown the rare wood carving for which it is famous, 
and of which all France is justly proud; the beautiful bath room of Marie 
Antoinette, the wall and ceiling of which are covered with delft in unique 
and handsome designs; and its other features of interest. We then, under 
the escort of the President, enjoyed a stroll through the beautiful grounds 
which surround the Chateau, one of the special and very attractive features 
of which is a long avenue of graceful Louisiana cypress trees, which were 
presented by the people of Louisiana to Napoleon, who planted them at 
Rambouillet, which was one of his favorite chateaux. The visit was a most 
enjoyable one and all too soon it was time for us to return to Paris. As 
we drove away, the little two-year-old grandchild of the President delighted 
us by waiving its adieux from an upper chamber of the chateau. 

Among those who were the guests of the President and Mme. Fallieres 
at dejeuner were: 

The chairman of the Virginia commission and Mrs. Mann, Senator and 
Mrs. Floyd W. King, Senator and Mrs. Don P. Halsey, Hon. Robert Bacon, 
American Ambassador at Paris; the French Ambassador to the United States 
and Mme. Jusserand, M. Armand Mollard, directeur du protocole; Mr. Bailly- 
Blanchard, First Secretary of the American Embassy; Lieutenant-Colonel 
Griache, and M. and Mme. Lanes, son-in-law and daughter of the President. 

LUNCHEON WITH THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR. 

Another most pleasant occasion was the luncheon on Tuesday, August 
23d, tendered to the members of the commission and their wives by the Am- 
bassador from France to the United States and Mme. Jusserand at their 
home, overlooking the Seine and the beautiful grounds which surround the 
Trocadero. We were especially pleased when M. and Mme. Jusserand invited 
us to come to luncheon with them "en famille," for M. Jusserand had from 



of Washington to the People of France 43 

the beginning taken so great an interest in the presentation of the statue to 
the people of his country, and had been so untiring in his efforts to add to 
the pleasure of our stay in France, that we felt we had passed beyond the 
stage of an official acquaintance and become real friends. The guests, besides 
the members of the commission and their wives, were Mr. Bailly-Blanchard, 
First Secretary of the American Embassy, who had also shown us many 
personal as well as official courtesies, and Vicomte Dejean. There was no 
formality; the charmingly gracious ease with which we were received left 
nothing to be desired; and the occasion will long be remembered as one of 
the most pleasant of our experiences. 



Visits to Places of Interest 

The members of the commission remained in Paris until the morning of 
August 29th, and their stay was a round of pleasure and enjoyment. Besides 
the intensely interesting visit to Versailles by invitation of M. de Nolhac, we 
visited the Louvre, filled with incomparable art treasures; the Palais du 
Luxembourg, with its fine gallery of contemporary French art, surrounded 
by a vast park and gardens of rare beauty; the Pantheon, its walls decorated 
with most beautiful historical paintings, and in its crypt the tombs of many 
of the great men of France; Les Invalides, where Napoleon lies in magnifi- 
cent state surrounded by the flags of the conquered; Notre Dame, one of the 
best known and most famous Cathedrals of the world; La Madeleine, whose 
great columns, richly sculptured frieze, and perfect proportions, make it a 
truly beautiful structure; Eiffel Tower, from the top of which a wonderful 
view of Paris and its environs was obtained; the Palais de Justice, with its 
many historical associations, and of which la Conciergerie, from which 
Marie Antoinette went to her death, is a part; Sainte Chapelle, in the south 
court of the Palais de Justice, built in the thirteenth century by Saint Louis 
to receive relics brought from the Holy Land by the Crusaders, and declared 
by many critics to be the purest, the most delicate and most harmonious 
specimen of Gothic architecture ever created; St. Denis, where were buried 
many of the Kings and Queens of France, whose tombs, destroyed during 
the Revolution, have now for the most part been restored; the Musee Carna- 
valet, where were seen a reproduction of the Bastile and many other objects 
of great interest connected with the history of Paris and the French Revolu- 
tion; the Musee Cluny, with its valuable collection of mediasval objects of 
art and its masterpieces of the decorative and useful arts; and many other 
places of great historic and educational interest. 

On Sunday, August 28th, we were tendered the use of his automobile by 
Mr. Gunther, whose absence from the city prevented our having the pleasure 
of his company, and we enjoyed the rare treat of a visit to Fontainebleau, some 
forty miles from Paris, over perfect roads. The Palace is beautiful beyond 
description, both architecturally and in the magnificence of its furnishing, 
while it is filled with treasures of art and objects of the most intense his- 
torical interest, the most important of which are those connected with Napo- 
leon, for here he saw the downfall of his power and upon a small table which 



44 Presentation of a Copy of Houdons Statue 

is shown to visitors wrote bis abdication; while it was in the great square 
in front of this Palace that he bade farewell to the Old Guard, one of the 
most touching scenes in all history. 



Farewell Notes and Calls 

M. Jusserand was to leave Paris for Washington several days before the 
visit of the commissioners was ended, and on August 26th the chairman wrote 
to him as follows: 

Paris, August 26, 1910. 
My Dear Mr. Jusserand: 

Before you leave Paris, I want to thanlc you on behalf of the State 
of Virginia and of my associates and myself for the very great interest 
you have taken in the presentation of the Statue of Washington by 
the people of Virginia to the people of France, and to assure you of our 
personal appreciation of the many kindnesses and courtesies you have 
shown us during our stay in France. 

The graciousness and cordiality with which Virginia's gift has 
been received, and the importance which has been attached to our visit, 
has most strongly impressed us with the belief that the people of 
France must have in their hearts for our State the same friendly feel- 
ing of affection that all true Virginians who remember the kindness of 
your people in the past entertain for France. 

To Madame Jusserand and yourself we feel that we owe much of the 
pleasure we have enjoyed in Paris, and we beg that you will accept our 
compliments and most sincere acknowledgments. Wishing both of you 
a very pleasant voyage, I am, on behalf of the ladies of our party and 
my associates and myself, 

Very sincerely yours, 

JAMES MANN. 

M. Jean J. Jusserand, 

Paris, France. 

And upon the morning of their departure, the chairman addressed to 
President Fallieres, on behalf of himself and the other commissioners, the 
following note: 

Paris, August 29, 1910. 
M. LE President: 

My associates and I do not feel that we can leave France without 
expressing to you our most sincere appreciation of the many delightful 
courtesies which have been shown us since we arrived at Calais, nearly 
two weeks ago. 

The cordiality with which Virginia's gift to France has been ac- 
cepted has shown us that the affectionate regard in which Virginians 
hold the people of your country finds a ready response in their hearts; 
while the graciousness of our reception and the courtesies which have 
been shown us, especially the charming luncheon at Rambouliet, will 
always be among the most cherished of our memories. 



of Washington to the People of France 45 

The ladies of our party join my associates and me in presenting to 
Mme. Fallieres and yourself our very sincere compliments, while I beg 
to subscribe myself, sir. 

Your obedient servant, 

JAMES MANN, 
Chairman Virginia Commission. 
To His Excellency, 

M. Armand Fat.t.tkbes, 

President of the French Republic. 

The time for our departure from Paris in accordance with our plans 
having arrived, we proceeded on the Saturday preceding to make our adieux. 
We called at the American Embassy and talked over with the Ambassador 
and his associates, all of whom had shown us many courtesies, the delightful 
experiences we had enjoyed, and said farewell to them with genuine regret. 
Next, with the ladies of our party, we called at the Palais de I'Elysee to 
inscribe our names, as is the custom, upon the guest books of the President 
and Mme. Fallieres, both of whom were still at Rambouillet. The commis- 
sioners then proceeded to make farewell calls upon General Brun, le Ministre 
de la Guerre; M. Pichon, le Ministre des Affaires Etrangeres, and Vice- Admiral 
de Lapeyrere, le Ministre de la Marine, all of which calls were returned at 
the Hotel Continental during the afternoon. 

Our oflScial duties ended, we left Paris early Monday morning, August 
29th, carrying with us many pleasant memories of our stay in France, and 
of the cordial hospitality with which we had been received. We went first 
to Oberammergau, where we enjoyed the Passion Play, after which we jour- 
neyed leisurely through Switzerland and Italy, returning home by the 
Mediterranean route. 

Respectfully submitted, 

JAMES MANN, 
Chairman. 



Part III 
The Appendices 



APPENDIX I. 



Resolution for Procuring a Statue of George Washington 

In the House of Delegates. 
Tuesday, the 22d of June, 1784. 
Resolved, That the Executive be requested to take measures for procuring 
a statue of General Washington, to be of the finest marble and best workman- 
ship, with the following inscription on its pedestal, viz: 

"The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia have caused 
this statue to be erected as a monument of affection and gratitude to George 
Washington, who uniting to the endowments of the Hero the virtues of the 
Patriot, and exerting both in establishing the liberties of his country, has 
rendered his name dear to his fellow citizens and given the world an im- 
mortal example of true glory." 

Teste: 



1784, June 24th. 

Agreed to by the Senate unanimously. 



JOHN BECKLEY, C. H. D. 



WILL. DREW, C. S. 



APPENDIX II. 



History and Value of the Houdon Statue 

By SHERWIN McRAE, Esq. 
(1872) 

Houdon's Statue of Washington is interesting to mankind as the most 
perfect representation of this peerless man that exists. While it is the cher- 
ished object of pride and affection with our whole country, Virginia remem- 
bers that before time and opportunity had fully developed the civic virtues 
of Washington, she acknowledged him the chief of her sons, and sealed the 
acknowledgment with this matchless statue. 

The General Assembly of Virginia, soon after the declaration of peace, 
responding to the emotions of affection and gratitude which stirred the hearts 
of her people, decreed a statue to General Washington, and Houdon, of Paris, 
one of the most celebrated statuaries of the time, was employed to make it. 
To insure a perfect lil^ness, Houdon visited Mount Vernon, and remained 
with Washington a fortnight, during which time he took a cast of his face, 
head and upper part of the body, and minute measurements of his person, 



48 Presentation of a Copy of Houdons Staiue 

and acquired that intimate knowledge of his subject which his mission de- 
manded. The artist was to receive as compensation for the statue twenty- 
five thousand livres, or one thousand English guineas; and his expenses in- 
curred in the trip, to and from Virginia, were to be reimbursed him. In addi- 
tion, his life was to be insured during the time of his absence from France. 

The artist sailed from France about the first of August, 1785, arriving 
at Mount Vernon the third of October ensuing, and returned to Paris about 
the first of January, 1786. The contract allowed him three years for the 
completion of the statue, which he effected in about that space of time, com- 
pleting it in 1788. But the new Capitol in which provision was to be made 
for its reception not being finished before 1796, it was detained in France 
to await that event. It reached Philadephia in April, 1796, arrived in 
Richmond in May, and was erected in the quadrangle of the Capitol the 14th 
day of May, 1796. In September, 1872, on account of the insecurity of the 
floor on which it stood, it was taken down and removed to a place of security. 
But the General Assembly at their present session (1872-73) have provided 
for its replacement. 

The statue presents the figure erect, the head uncovered; the sword 
on the left, the cane in the right hand — representing in device what Wash- 
ington had so forcibly expressed in his reply to the address of the General 
Assembly of Virginia, the subordination of the military to the civil power; 
the fasces and ploughshare by his side, the one representing authority, power 
and honor — the other, the peaceful arts most congenial to his taste and feel- 
ings. The beautiful harmony between these simple devices and the character 
of Washington inspires the spectator with the most pleasing emotions. 

The dress which he wore in the service of his country displays the pro- 
portions of his figure with an exactness which antiquity, embarrassed by 
drapery and the toga, could only attain in nudity. The posture is true to 
nature, yet revealing a grace which art cannot equal. The expression is that 
of dignity and repose. Washington stands revealed before us as in life, 
the marvel and the admiration of the world, and the cherished object of 
the affection of his native State. 

No statue or painting exists which is more thoroughly authenticated 
than the Houdon Statue. From Its inception to its completion it is histori- 
cally marked by a chronological record of facts, resolutions, correspondence 
and inscriptions which will preserve its identity and character through all 
time; and what is most rare, its perfect similitude to the original is estab- 
lished by facts and opinions as convincing as human testimony can furnish. 

On the 15th day of May, 1784, a committee of the House of Delegates, 
consisting of Messrs. Ronald, Mann Page, Hubard, Madison, Henry, Tazewell, 
Heath, Roane, Taylor of Caroline, Cary and Corbin, were appointed to draw 
up an address to General Washington, expressive of the thanks and gratitude 
of that body. for his unremitted zeal and services in the cause of liberty — con- 
gratulating him on his return to his native country, and the exalted pleasures 
of domestic life; and the same committee was instructed to consider and re- 
port "What further measures may be necessary for perpetuating the gratitude 
and veneration of his country to General Washington." On the 5th day of 
June, 1784, Mr. Ronald, in behalf of the committee, reported an address and 
resolution, which were referred to the committee of the whole house; and 




George WasMngtoit 
The statue immediately after the unveiling 



48 Presentation of a Copy 0/ 



and acquired that intimaie knowledge of hlii »Mbj«ct wih!ch hie mission de- 
mauded. The artist was to receive as cojriponsation for the stfttue twenty- 
five thousand livres, or one thousand English guineas; and h' -'■• - in- 
curred in the trip, to and irom Virginia, were to be reimburscJ 
tion, his life was to be insured du^; ;aie of his absenor 

The artist sailed from Frant ie first of -August 

at Mount Vernon the third of O; i and returned 10 Pan... 

the first of January ''TSR. 'fbr ^ed him three years i* 

completion of the v rfteftea in about that space of time, com 

pletlng It In I7S8. apjtol in which provision was to be made 

£or its receplioi' n' -d before 1796, it was detained in France 

to await '' ''=phia in Vpril, 1796, arrived in 

Richmond iuadrangle ut the Capitol the 14th 

day of Maj, 1. :, un account of tho v 

floor on which i .vu and removed to a p^ 

But the General Asseuibiy ai their preaent session (1872-73) have provineti 

for its replacemt-.t. 

The Btatup >a erect, the head uncovered; the sword 

on the lef •■ hand — representing in device what Wash- 

ington ha a his reply to the address of the General 

J^- ' ' ., liif b at) ordination of the military to the civil power; 

i aishare by his side, the one representing authority, power 

nii'i honor — cue other, the peaceful arts most congenial to his taste and feel- 
ings. The beautiful harmony bf:^^^V^4m^y si'^l^^Stvices and the character 
ox Washington inspi]J8«iShempeHj4iitoa*\fritfe'Us*'5ttM«i pW«4tn^Sinotions. 

The dress which he wore in the service of his country displays the pro- 
portions of his figure with an exactness which antiquity, embarrassed by 
drapery and the toga, could only attain In nudity. The per* 
nature, yet revealing a ^rvipf^ vMch art cannot equal. Tbe fi. 
of dignity and repose. 'on stands revealed be 

the marvel and the ad:; f toe wc.-ld. and the f 

the affection of his native State. 

No statue or pRiating cy--- 
than the Houdon ►sia^ue. F 
cally marked by a 

and inscriptions ^svi 11 

time; and what is • o lue origynai is estab- 

lished by facts and ,, in testimony can furnish. 

On the 15th day of May, 1784. a of the House of Delegates, 

consisting of Messrs. Ronald. Mann Pa^r , .ju^vnd, Madison, Henry, Tazewell, 
Heath, Roane, Taylor of Caroline, Cary and Corbln, were appointed to draw 
up an address to General Washington, expressive of the thanks and gratitude 
of that body. for his unremitted zeal and services in the cause of liberty — (-jb- 
gratulating him on his return to his native country, and the exalted pli^i 
of domestic life; and the same committee was instructed to consider 
port "What further measures may be necessary for perpetuating tl" 
and veneration of his country to General Washington." On \'- 
June, 1784, Mr. Ronald, in behalf of the committee, reported ? A 

resolution, which were referred to the committee of the who;-- ;--uf» . and 



of Washington to the People of France 49 

on the 22d of June, the House of Delegates, and on the 26th of June, the Senate 
adopted the following address and resolution, which had been reported by 
the joint committee of the two houses: 

"The representatives of this Commonwealth would be unfaithful to the 
sentiments of their constituents, as well as do violence to their own, did they 
omit this occasion of congratulating you on the final establishment of peace, 
•which has taken place since their last meeting, and on the opportunity which 
this event has given for your return to the felicities of private life. We 
shall ever remember, sir, with gratitude and affection the patriotic exchange 
which you made of these felicities for the severe task of conducting the 
armies of your country through a conflict with one of the most powerful na- 
tions of the earth. We shall ever remember, with admiration, the wisdom 
which marked your councils on this arduous occasion; the firmness and 
dignity which no trials of adverse fortune could shake, the moderation and 
equanimity which no scenes of triumph could disturb. Nor shall we ever 
forget the exemplary respect which in every instance you have shown to 
the rights of civil authority, or the exalted virtue which on many occasions 
led you to commit to danger your fame itself, rather than hazard for a mo- 
ment the true interests of your country. In reviewing these merits we feel 
every impression which they are calculated to make on grateful and affection- 
ate minds, and we fervently pray that they may be rewarded with every 
blessing of which this life will admit, and with complete happiness in that 
which is to come." 

To this address presented at Mount Vernon by the joint committee of 
the two houses, appointed for the purpose, General Washington, on the 15th 
day of July, made the following reply: 

"Gentlemen : 

"With feelings which are more easy to be conceived than expressed, I 
meet and reciprocate the congratulations of the representatives of this Com- 
monwealth, on the final establishment of peace. Nothing can add more to 
the pleasure which arises from a conscientious discharge of public trust than 
the approbation of one's country. To have been so happy under a vicissitude 
of fortune, amidst the diflicult and trying scenes of an arduous conflict, as 
to meet this, is, in my mind, to have attained the highest honor; and the 
consideration of it in my present peaceful retirement, will heighten all my 
domestic joys and constitute my greatest felicity. I should have been truly 
wanting in duty, and must have frustrated the great and important object 
for which we resorted to arms, if seduced by a temporary regard for fame I 
had suffered the paltry love of it to interfere with my country's welfare, the 
interest of which was the only inducement which carried me into the field, 
or permitted the sacred rights of civil authority (though but for a moment), 
to be violated and infringed by a power meant originally to rescue and con- 
firm them. 

"For those rewards and blessings which you have invoked for me In 
this world, and for the fruition of that happiness which you pray for in 
that which is to come, you have, gentlemen, all my thanks and all my grati- 



50 Presentation of a Copy of Houdons Statue 

tude. I wish I could ensure them to you and the State you represent a hundred 
fold." 

The following is the resolution of the General Assembly: "That the 
Executive be requested to take measures for procuring a statue of General 
Washington, to be of the finest marble and best workmanship, with the fol- 
lowing inscription on its pedestal, viz: 

"The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia have caused 
this statue to be erected as a monument of affection and gratitude to George 
Washington, who, uniting to the endowments of the hero, the virtues of the 
patriot, and exerting both in establishing the liberties of his country, has 
rendered his name dear to his fellow-citizens, and given to the world an im- 
mortal example of true glory." 

To fulfill the duty imposed by this resolution. Governor Harrison, on the 
first day of July, 1784, addressed the following letter to Charles Wilson Peale, 
of Philadelphia: "The Assembly of this State have voted a statue of our 
late most worthy commander-in-chief. General Washington, and that I may 
be enabled to discharge the pleasing trust reposed in me in the most per- 
fect manner possible, I have to request the favor of you to draw a full length 
picture of him immediately, and as soon as it is suflQciently dry, to have it 
packed up in the most secure manner, and shipped in the first ship bound 
for France, to the address of the Hon. Thomas Jefferson"; and on the 20th 
of July, 1784, writes to Mr. Jefferson as follows: 

"The Assembly of this State have voted a statue of our late worthy com- 
mander-in-chief. General Washington, and have directed their intentions to 
be carried into effect by the Executive — for particulars I refer you to the en- 
closed resolution. You will observe they have only provided for one side 
of the pedestal, and that the others, with the dress, etc., are left for the exer- 
cise of the genius of the Executive. This would be a very pleasing employ- 
ment for us, if we had ever turned our thoughts that way, or were adepts in 
the science of devices, emblems, etc.; but as we are not, we have unanimously 
fixed on you and my friend Dr. Franklin, who we all know are competent to 
the task. I therefore most earnestly request the favor of you to undertake it. 

"The history of the war, and the share he has had in it, are so well known 
to you both that nothing on that subject is necessary from me; you are 
therefore left entirely at large, and have the whole direction of the business 
committed to you. I shall write to the Doctor in full confidence that it will 
give him pleasure to assist you. 

"To enable the artist to finish his work in the most perfect manner, I 
have ordered Mr. Peale to send to your address a full length picture of the 
General as soon as possible. 

"The intention of the Assembly is, that the statue should be the work 
of the most masterly hand. I shall therefore leave it to you to find out the 
best in any of the European States. To defray the expense certain funds 
are appropriated that will undoubtedly produce the money, and it shall be 
remitted to you long before the work can be completed. I can form no judg- 
ment what sum it will take, but by the cost of Lord Botetourt's statue, which 



of Washington to the People of France 51 

I think was about nine hundred and fifty pounds sterling to the artist, and 
for shipping charges. There was a further sum to the person who came over 
to set it up; but that in the present case will be the consideration of a future 
day, there being no place as yet fixed on to place it in. You will be so obliging 
as soon as you have fixed on the devices, and agreed for the statue, to favor 
me with the particulars of the former, and a copy of your agreement, that 
there may be no deficiency in the remittances, either in point of time or 
quantity. I shall make no apology for the trouble the execution of this trust 
will bring on you, from a thorough conviction that the love and attachment 
you have for the worthy person whose memory the statue is to perpetuate 
will render it rather a pleasing than a disagreeable employment." 

November 12, 1784, Governor Harrison informs Mr. Jefferson, then in 
Paris, that the full length picture of General Washington, by Charles Wilson 
Peale, of Philadelphia, is finished, and will be shipped to his address by the 
first vessel bound for France. 

November 20th, Governor Harrison thanks Mr. Peale for the readiness 
with which he furnished the picture of General Washington, and forwarded 
it to France. 

June 16, 1785, Mr. Jefferson, to the Governor of Virginia, writes: 

"In a letter of January 12th, to Governor Harrison, I informed him of 
the necessity that the statuary should see General Washington. M. Houdon 
will therefore go over with Dr. Franklin some time in the next month." 
And in a letter to Mr. Adams, dated July 7, 1785, he writes: "Monsieur 
Houdon has agreed to go to America to take the figure of General Washing- 
ton." Mr. Jefferson then requests Mr. Adams to ascertain what it will cost 
in London to ensure twenty thousand livres on Houdon's life, that he believes 
him to be healthy enough; between thirty and thirty-five years of age; and 
will be absent about six months. 

All needful arrangements having been made for Houdon's trip to America, 
Mr. Jefferson writes to General Washington as follows: 

"Paris, July 10, 1785, M. Houdon would much sooner have had the 
honor of attending you but for a spell of sickness which long induced us to 
despair of his recovery, and from which he is but recently recovered. He 
comes now for the purpose of lending the aid of his art to transmit you to 
posterity. He is without rivalship in it, being employed in all parts of Europe 
in whatever is capital. He has had a diflBculty to withdraw himself from an 
order of the Empress of Russia, a diflSculty, however, that arose from a desire 
to show her respect, but which never gave him a moment's hesitation about 
the voyage, which he considers as promising the brightest chapter of his 
history. 

"I have spoken of him as an artist only, but I can assure you also, that 
as a man, he is disinterested, generous, candid and panting after glory; in 
every circumstance meriting your good opinion. He will have need to eee 
you much, while he shall have the honor of being with you, which you can 
the more freely admit, as his eminence and merit give him admission into 
genteel societies here." 



52 Presentation of a Copy of Houdons Statue 

Paris, July 11, 1785, Mr. Jefferson, to the Governor of Virginia, writes as 
follows: "M. Houdon's long and desperate illness has retarded his departure 
for Virginia. We had hoped from our first conversations with him that it 
would be easy to make our terms, and that the cost of the statue and expense 
of sending him would he about a thousand guineas. But when we came to 
settle this precisely, he thought himself obliged to ask vastly more, insomuch 
that at one moment we thought our treaty at an end. But unwilling to 
commit such a work to an inferior hand, we made him an ultimate proposi- 
tion on our part. He was as much mortified at the prospect of not being the 
executor of such a work, as we were not to have it done by such a hand. He 
therefore acceded to our terms, though we are satisfied he will be a consider- 
able loser. We were led to insist on them because in a former letter to the 
Governor I had given the hope we entertained of bringing the whole within 
one thousand guineas. The terms are twenty-five thousand livres, or one 
thousand English guineas for the statue and pedestal. Besides this we pay 
his expenses going and returning, which we expect will be between four and 
five thousand livres; and if he dies on the voyage we pay his family ten thou- 
sand livres. This latter proposition was disagreeable to us; but he has a 
father, mother and sisters who have no resource but in his labours, and he 
himself is one of the best of men in the world. He therefore made it a sine 
qua non, without which all would have been off. We have reconciled it to 
ourselves, by determining to get insurance on his life made in London, which 
we expect can be done for five per cent., so that it becomes an additional sum 
of five hundred livres. I enclose you for a more particular detail a copy of 
the agreement. Dr. Franklin was disposed to give two hundred and fifty 
guineas more, which would have split the difference between the actual terms 
and Mr. Houdon's demand. 

"I wish the State at the conclusion of his work may agree to give him 
this much more, because I am persuaded he will be a loser, which I am sure 
their generosity would not wish." 

Paris, July 12, 1785. Mr. Jefferson writes to the Virginia Delegates in 
Congress as follows: "In consequence of the orders of the Legislative and 
Executive bodies of Virginia, I have engaged Monsieur Houdon to make the 
statue of General Washington. For this purpose it is necessary for him to 
see the General. He therefore goes with Dr. Franklin, and will have the 
honor of delivering you this himself. As the journey is at the expense of 
the State, according to our contract, I will pray you to favor him with your 
patronage and counsels, and to protect him as much as possible from those 
impositions to which strangers are but too much exposed. I have advised 
him to proceed in the stages to the General's. I have also agreed if he could 
see Generals Greene and Gates, whose busts he has a desire to execute, that 
he may make a moderate deviation for this purpose, after he has done with 
General Washington. But the most important object with him is to be 
employed to make General Washington's equestrian statue for Congress. 
Nothing but the expectations of this could have engaged him to have under- 
taken this voyage, as the pedestrian statue for Virginia will not make it 
worth the business he loses by absenting himself. I was therefore obliged 
to assure him of my recommendations for this greater work. Having acted 



of Washington to the People of France 53 

in this for the State, you will, I hope, think yourselves in some measure bound 
to patronize and urge his being employed by Congress. I would not have 
done this myself, nor asked you to do it, did I not see that it would be better 
for Congress to put this business into his hands than into those of any other 
person living, for these reasons: 1st, He is without rivalship, the first 
statuary of this age; as a proof of which he receives orders from every other 
country for things intended to be capital; 2d, He will have seen General 
"Washington, have taken his measure in every part, and of course whatever 
he does of him will have the merit of being original, from which other 
workmen can only furnish copies; 3d, He is in possession of the house, the 
furnaces and all other apparatus provided for making the statue of Louis 
XV. If any other workmen be employed, this will all have to be provided 
anew, and of course to be added to the price of the statue; for no man can 
ever expect to make two equestrian statues. The addition which this would 
be to the price will much exceed the expectation of any person who has not 
seen that apparatus. In truth, it is immense. 

"As to the price of the work, it will be much greater than Congress is 
probably aware of. I have enquired somewhat into this circumstance, and 
find the prices of those made for two centuries past have been from one hun- 
dred and twenty thousand guineas down to sixteen thousand guineas, ac- 
cording to the size; and as far as I have seen, the smaller they are, the more 
agreeable; the smallest yet made is infinitely above the size of life, and they 
all appear outre and monstrous. That of Louis XV is probably the best in 
the world, and it is the smallest here, yet it is impossible to find a point 
of view from which it does not appear a monster, unless you go so far as to 
lose sight of the features and finer lineaments of the face and body. A 
statue is not made like a mountain, to be seen at a great distance. To per- 
ceive those minuter circumstances which constitute its beauty, you must be 
near it, and in that case it should be so little above the size of life, as to 
appear actually of that size from your point of view. I should not, therefore, 
fear to propose that the one intended by Congress should be considerably 
smaller than any of those to be seen here, as I think it will be more beautiful, 
and also cheaper. The pedestrian statue of marble is to take three years. 
The equestrian of course would take much more." 

General "Washington at Mount Vernon September 26, 1785, writes to 
Benjamin Franklin as follows: 

""When it suits M. Houdon to come hither, I will accommodate him in the 
best manner I am able, and shall endeavor to render his stay as agreeable 
as I can." 

On the same day General "Washington writes to M. Houdon : "By a letter 
which I have lately had the honor to receive from Dr. Franklin at Philadel- 
phia, I am informed of your arrival at that place. Many letters from very 
respectable characters in France as well as the Doctor's inform me of the 
occasion, for which, though the cause is not of my seeking, I feel the most 
agreeable and grateful sensations. I wish the object of your mission had 
been more worthy of the masterly genius of the first statuary in Europe, for 



54 Presentation of a Copy of Hondon's Status 

this you are represented to me. It will give me pleasure, sir, to v/elcome 
you to this seat of my retirement, and whatever I have or can procure that 
is necessary to your purposes, or convenient and agreeable to your wishes, 
you must freely command, as inclination to oblige you will be among the last 
things in which I shall be found deficient, either on your arrival or during 
your stay." 

And on the same day from the same place he writes to Mr. Jefferson as 
follows: 

"I had the honor to receive your favours of the 10th and 17th of July, 
which were committed to the care of M. Houdon, but I have not yet had the 
pleasure to see that gentleman. His instruments and materials. Dr. Franklin 
informs me, were sent down the Seine; but not being arrived when the ship 
left Havre, he was obliged to leave them, and is now busied in supplying 
himself with others at Philadelphia, with which, when done, he will come 
to this place. I shall take great pleasure in showing M. Houdon every civility 
and attention in my power during his stay in this country; for I feel myself 
under personal obligations to you and Dr. Franklin, as the State of Virginia 
has done me the honor to direct a statue to be erected to my memory, for 
having placed the execution in the hands of so eminent an artist and bo 
worthy a character." 

Geeral Washington, in a letter to the Marquis de La Rouerie, dated 
Mount Vernon, October 7, 1785, informs the Marqu's that M. Houdon ar- 
rived at Mount Vernon the 3d day of October (four days preceding the date of 
his letter). 

General Washington, in a letter to the Marquis de La Fayette, dated 
Mount Vernon, November the 8, 1785, writes: "I have now to thank you 
for your favours of the 9th and 14th of July, the first by M. Houdon, who 
stayed no more than a fortnight with me, and to whom, for his trouble and 
risk in crossing the seas, although I had no agency in the business, I feel 
myself under personal obligations." 

Mr. Jefferson, in his letter to General Washington, dated Paris, January 
4, 1786, writes: 

"I have been honored with your letter of September the 26th, which was 
delivered me by M. Houdon, who is safely returned. 

"He has brought with him the mould of the face only, having left the 
other parts of his work with his workmen, to come by some other convey- 
ance. Dr. Franklin, who was joined with me in the superintendence of this 
just monument, having left us before what is called the costume of the 
statue was decided on, I cannot so well satisfy myself, and am persuaded 
should not so well satisfy the world as by consulting your own wish or in- 
clination as to this article. 

"Permit me, therefore, to ask you whether there is any particular dress 
or any particular attitude which you would rather wish to be adopted. I 
shall take a singular pleasure in having your own idea executed, if you will 
be so good as to make it known to me." 

General Washington writes to Mr. Jefferson from Mount Vernon, August 
the 1, 1786, as follows: 



of Washington to the People of France 55 

"The letters you did me the favor to write to me, on the 4th and 7th 
of January, have been duly received. In answer to your obliging enquiries 
respecting the dress and attitude which I would wish to have given to the 
statue in question, I have only to observe, that not having sufficient knowl- 
edge in the art of sculpture to oppose my judgment to the taste of connois- 
seurs, I do not desire to dictate in the matter. On the contrary, I shall be 
perfectly satisfied with whatever may be judged decent and proper. I should 
even scarcely have ventured to suggest, that, perhaps, a servile adherence to 
the garb of antiquity might not be altogether so expedient, as some little de- 
viation in favour of the modern costume, if I had not learnt from Colonel 
Humphreys that this was a circumstance hinted in conversation by Mr. West 
to M. Houdon. 

"This taste which has been introduced in painting by West, I understand 
is received with applause and prevails extensively." 

Mr. Jefferson, in his letter to Mr. Madison dated at Paris, February 8, 
1786, writes: "Houdon has returned. He called on me the other day to re- 
monstrate against the inscription proposed for General Washington's statue. 
He says it is too long to be put on the pedestal. I told him I was not at 
liberty to permit any alteration; but I would represent his objection to a 
friend who could judge of its validity, and whether a change could be author- 
ized. This has been the subject of conversation here, and various devices 
and inscirptions have been suggested. The one which has appeared best to 
me may be translated as follows: 

"Behold, reader, the form of George Washington. For his worth ask 
history. That will tell it when this stone shall have yielded to the decay of 
time. His country erects this monument. Houdon makes it." This for one 
side. On the second, represent the evacuation of Boston, with the motto, 
Hostibus Vrimum fugatis. On the third, the capture of the Hessians, with 
Hostibus itcrum devictis. On the fourth, the surrender of York, with 
Hostibus ultimum debellatis. The artist made the same objection of length 
to the inscription for the bust of LaFayette. I am not certain it is desirable 
in either case." 

To this letter Mr. Madison replied, with his characteristic modesty, that 
his own inscription was inferior to the substitute copied into the letter of 
Mr. Jefferson, but was apprehensive, notwithstanding that no change could 
be effected, and in conclusion says, "the devices for the other side of the 
pedestal are well chosen, and might, I should suppose, be applied without 
scruple, as decorations of the artist. I counted myself on the addition of 
proper ornaments, and am persuaded that such a liberty could give offense 
nowhere." On the reception of this reply, all purpose of changing the in- 
scription was abandoned, and the devices appended to the statue adopted, 
which, like the inscription, are so felicitious and appropriate as to be equally 
beyond the sphere of praise or criticism. That the remonstrance of Houdon 
was founded on the relation between the height of the pedestal, and the 
length of the inscription, and the laws of perspective in regard to which 
the artist wished to bring the statue nearer the level of the spectator than the 
inscription would permit, and had no relation ot mere literary excellence. 



56 Presentation of a Copy of Houdons Statue 

there can be no doubt. Mr. Rives, in his Life and Times of Madison, com- 
ments on the proposed substitute with caustic severity, evidently referring 
it to rivalry for literary excellence, instead of the true reasons which prompt- 
ed the remonstrance of the artist. 

Paris, August 14, 1787, Mr. Jefferson writes to General Washington: 

"I was happy to find, by the letter of August the 1, 1786, which you 
did me the honor to write to me, that the modern dress for your statue would 
meet your approbation. I found it strongly the sentiment of West, Copely, 
Trumbull and Brown in London, after which it would be ridiculous to add 
that it was my own. I think a modern in an antique dress as just an object 
of ridicule as a Hercules or Marius with a periwig and chapeau-bras." The 
coincidence of taste between General Washington and Mr. Jefferson, con- 
sidering the high culture of Mr. Jefferson in all that pertained to the fine 
arts, will contribute to justify the opinion that while the adoption of the 
modern costume is necessary to truthful delineation, art and taste approve the 
choice. 

1795, February 6th, Governor Brooke, to Mr. Monroe, at Paris, after re- 
minding Mr. Monroe of the appointment of Mr. Jefferson (then at Paris), to 
procure a statue of General Washington, and his leaving that city before its 
completion, writes: "But as it was not finished at the time he left Paris, 
and we have had no information since with respect to its progress, or any 
estimate of the ultimate expense, we are unable to determine what is still 
incumbent upon us, to carry into effect the object of the legislature. Permit 
me therefore to request that you will be so obliging as to make such enquiry 
as will trace this business to its present stage, and communicate such in- 
formation respecting it as will enable the Executive both to complete Mr. 
Jefferson's contract, and attain the object of it." 

Paris, August 20, 1795, Mr. Monroe writes: "I have lately received 
your letter of the 6th of February, respecting the statue of General Washing- 
ton. * * * 

"The delay of your letter on the passage is the cause that an earlier 
answer was not given to it. I give one at present, merely for the purpose of 
assuring you that I will with great pleasure make the enquiries suggested, 
and in other respects perform everything you have requested, and advise 
you afterwards of the result, as soon as possible. 
******** 

Paris, July 29, 1796, Mr. Monroe to the Governor of Virginia, writes: 
"I hope the statue of the President arrived safe and without injury at Rich- 
mond, and in which I confide, as it was packed up with great care here and 
forwarded from Havre under the auspices of a prudent captain of one of 
our best vessels. 

"I herewith enclose you a note of the amount of what I paid to M. Houdon, 
the artist, for the charges annexed, and which he requested immediately. 
This item will be adjusted with Mr. Jones when he desires it. M. Houdon 
has also another demand of about the like sum for depreciation, and which 
I promised to communicate to you, and pay him in case you permitted. I 
believe from his statement that he actually lost that amount, and in that 
mode, but, at the same time I also believe, that the State of Virginia did not 



Chateau de Ban^buillet 

Slimmer home of President '^aUieres, where the members of the Virginia 
Commission locre entertained 



56 



Presentation of a Copy of Hoiulons Statue 



there can be no doubt. Mr. Rives, In hla Life and Times of Madison, com- 
ments on the proposed substitute with, caustic severity, evidently referring 
It to rivalry for literar>- excellence, instead of the true reasons wnich prompt- 
ed the remonstrance of the artist. 

Paris, August 14, 1787, Mr. Jefferson writes to General WashlngUto ■ 



"I wag iiappy to 
did me the honor to v 
meet your approbation. 
Trumbull and Brown ^ 
that It was my owi> 
of r^ ^- ■■ ■■ •• '^ - 

CO 



of August the 1, 1786, which you 

modern r'ress for your statue would 

iment of West, Copely, 

: f hp ridiculous to add 

as just an object 

s.'" The 

;Hi. ron- 



V <5tb, Governor Brooke, to Mr. Monroe, at Paris, after re- 
!,i);:.iMi;. -u . .>;>!■ 106 of the appointment of Mr. Jefferaon (then at Paris), to 
procure a ?*tatue of General Washington, and his leaving that city before its 
;: "'But Hi! it ^^a;^ not finifiiied at, the time he left Paris, 
no ^^♦'^'>1ii^^0^i#ftfi Sf1iii>S?>*l>S«V> its progress, or any 
o£ UK' \pense, we are ujiahle .to determine what is stilL, 

u iipoii , y. Into ^effect the object ofxhe legislature. Permit 

me therefore to request thai you will be so oDliging as to make such enquiry 
as will trace this business to its present stage, and communicate such in- 
formation respecting it as will enable the Executive both to complete Mr. 
Jefferson's contract, and attain the object of it." 

Paris, August 20, 1795. Mr. Monroe writes: "I have lately received 
your letter of the 6th of February, respecting the statue of General Washing- 
ton. * * * 

"The delay of your letter on the passage is thf 
answer was not given to it ^ "*'" ■ " ■•" ■-.■'' ■- 
assuring you that I will 
and in other ret;; 
you afterwards o; 



Paris, July 29, 1796. Mr. Moiiryi vn the Governor of Virginia, writes: 
"I hope the statue of the President arrived safe and wlthOJit injury at Rich- 
mond, and in which I confide, as it was packed up v/ith great care here and 
forwarded from Havre under the auspices of a prudent captain of one of 
our best vessels. 

"I herewith enclose you a note of the amount of what I paid to M. Houdon, 
the artist, for the charges annexed, and which he requested immediately. 
This item will be adjusted with Mr. Jones when he desires It. M. Houdon 
has also another demand of about the like sum for depreciation, and which 
I promised to communicate to you, and pay him (n case you permitted. I 
believe from his statement that he actually lost that amount, and in that 
mode, but, at the same time I also believe, that the State of Virgrinia did not 



of Washington to the People of France 57 

profit thereby, as likewise that the only claim he has, if any, is upon the 
candor and liberality of the State. * * * " 

August 12, 1803, London, Mr. Monroe, to Governor of Virginia, encloses 
claim of Houdon on the State of Virginia, which had been examined and 
stated by Mr. Skipwith, American Consul at Paris, who reported 2,800 livres 
due to Houdon, on account of the depreciation of the paper in which the last 
payment (9,000 livres). for the statue of Washington was paid. 

1851, March 21st, In view of the liability to injury and destruction of the 
statue of Washington, the General Assembly of Virginia provided for taking 
casts of the statue for the colleges of the State. 

1853, January 14th, Wm. J. Hubard, of Richmond, by joint resolution of 
the General Assembly, was authorized to take casts of Houdon's Statue of 
Washington, with exclusive right for seven years, subject to certain limita- 
tions. 

1856, March 8th, The Governor was authorized by the General Assembly 
to purchase from Mr. Hubard a bronze cast of Houdon's Statue of Washington, 
to be placed in the Military Institute at Lexington. In pursuance of this 
authority the statue was purchased by Governor Wise, and erected at Lexing- 
ton with appropriate honors, including an eloquent oration by his Excellency, 
replete with historical facts and incidents, pertaining to the Houdon Statue. 
A copy of this oration, although diligently sought, the writer has not been 
able to obtain. 

On the first day of April, 1873, the General Assembly of Virginia, by joint 
resolution, directed the statue of Washington to be restored to its former 
place in the Capitol, and appropriated one thousand dollars to defray the 
expense in giving that stability to the floor necessary to the safety of the 
statue. 

No act which Virginia has ever performed is more creditable to her than 
the decreeing of this noble statue. 

The Assembly which decreed it consisted in large part of men eminent 
for talents, wisdom and virtue. 

The committee was one of unusual ability, every one of whom was a man 
of mark, fortunately Mr. Madison was one of the number, and to his masterly 
pen we owe the inscription on the pedestal, which is so appropriate and 
felicitous that it will ever associate his name with the immortal subject. 

To what member of the committee we owe the chaste and beautiful 
address reported by Mr. Ronald as chairman of the committee, we are not 
informed; and while Mr. Ronald and others of the committee might have 
been equal to the task of its composition, some will be disposed to refer it to 
Mr. Madison. 

The character of Washington was already the grandest which history 
had recorded, and unlike others, grandest when drawn by the pencil of truth. 
A representation of his person in correspondence with this character re- 
quired an imitation of nature with absolute exactness. 

Mr. Jefferson, with that intuitive penetration which distinguished him 
in the fine arts, as well as in science and government, perceived that nothing 
but the cast of the face and minute measurements of the person could ensure 
that perfect likeness of the original which his country and the world desired. 
The artist was equally impressed with the importance of an exact likeness 



58 Presentation of a Copy of Houdons Staiue 

and the only mode of accomplishing it. A Washington ideal in person would 
have been as unsatisfactory as a Washington ideal in character; and but for 
this effigy from life, the world would be divided as to the best resemblance: 
and in despair and uncertainty, affection and art would vie with each 
other in ideal delineations of that illustrious man. A distinguished writer 
says: "As in contemplating the portrait of an eminent person, we long to be 
instructed in his history, so in considering his actions, we are anxious to 
behold his countenance. So earnest is this desire, that the imagination is 
generally ready to coin a set of features, or conceive a character, to supply 
the painful absence of one or the other." If Washington stands out on the 
list of fame as the greatest of all names, then his exact likeness must be 
an object of the deepest interest, not only to the people of the United States, 
but to the world. In view of this yearning wish (fortunately for its attain- 
ment), those best acquainted with Washington have pronounced his statue 
by Houdon the best representation of his person which exists. But in the 
appendix to the fifth volume of Irving's Life of Washington, a communication 
ascribed to Mr. H. T. Tuckerman contains the following language: "But 
that implicit fidelity now evident in the busts of our leading sculptors, was 
not then in vogue, and the artists of the day were rather adepts in idealizing 
than in precise imitation of nature. Therefore the result of Houdon's labours, 
though in general satisfactory, cannot be used with the mathematical exacti- 
tude as a guide which greater attention to minutiae would have secured." 

An opinion so remarkable in one of the most distinguished of the biogra- 
phers of Washington can only be accounted for on the supposition that the 
writer was but partially acquainted with the history of the Houdon statue. 
a history which as already unfolded proves that "implicit fidelity" and pre- 
cise imitation of nature with mathematical exactitude were demanded of the 
artist, and realized; and that, although he might be an adept in idealizing as 
in his Diana and Cicero, he was equally an adept in copying nature in all its 
minutiae, with absolute exactness. No other representation of the person of 
Washington is distinguished by one tithe of the evidence of the minutiae 
necessary to exactness, as that of the Houdon statue. Houdon's visit to 
Mount Vernon, his cast of the face, head, and upper part of the body, and 
minute measurements of the person with mathematical exactness; Jefferson's 
letter to Governor Harrison, informing him that it was necessary that the 
statuary should see General Washington, although he had a full length por- 
trait by Peale, painted for his guidance; Jefferson's letter to General Wash- 
ington, saying the artist would have to see him much; his letter to the Vir- 
ginia delegates in Congress, urging the employment of Houdon to execute 
the equestrian statue of Washington ordered by Congress; first because "he 
was the first statuary of the age;" and second, because "he will have seen 
General Washington, and have taken his measure in every part;" that what 
Houdon did would be "original" from which other workmen could only "fur- 
nish copies." — these facts lead to the irresistible conclusion, that Houdon, 
Mr. Jefferson, Dr. Franklin, Governor Harrison, and all who were engaged 
in the matter of the statue, regarded an exact likeness of Washington as the 
grand desideratum, and that the measures adopted by Houdon, and none 
other, could escure such a result. Had their purpose been otherwise, the 
character of Washington would have rebuked them. The man who was 



of V/ashington to the People of France 59 

averse to a separate biography, and preferred that the history of his life 
should be deduced from the history of his country, lest partiality might praise 
where truth would rebuke, and preferred for the costume of his statue the 
dress which he really and daily wore to the classic folds and drapery of anti- 
quity, yet more required that the delineation of his person should be true 
to nature. As unmerited praise and fictitious virtues for the most part 
make up the characters of the great, so the creative and ideal fill out and 
fashion their efiigies; truth alone can adequately portray the character and 
person of Washington. No portrait of Washington can be satisfactory about 
which there is a reasonable doubt as to its similitude. The more beautiful 
and artistic the less satisfactory, if it professes a resemblance which it does 
not possess. On the other hand, the true likeness of Washington is of such 
inestimable value, that the world is its guardian, and the muniments of its 
title one of the most sacred of the trusts committed to history. History and 
art have set their seals to the record, that this statue is the most perfect simili- 
tude of Washington which has ever been made; and medallic art in its pe- 
culiar relations has stamped it with indelible and authoritative marks as the 
only exact similitude of the great original. 

On the occasion of inaugurating the Washington Cabinet of Medals, in 
the city of Washington on the 22nd day of February, 1860, all the paintings, 
statues, busts, medals and coins bearing representations of Washington were 
considered — the medals and coins alone comprising one hundred and thirty- 
eight specimens, and the commemorative medal modeled from the Houdon 
bust was, after the most careful investigation and comparison, adopted as the 
standard likeness. During the proceedings on that interesting occasion, Mr. 
Longacre, a distinguished artist, and an adept in critical distinctions in this 
department of the fine arts, being called on, proceeded to say: "Viewing the 
close connection that necessarily exists between the medal portrait and the 
sculptured bust, belonging, as it were, to the same department of art, the bust, 
very frequently furnishing the only reliable and material authority from 
which the medalist can proceed with his work, the fidelity of the sculptured 
head or bust becomes a question of the first importance in determining the 
value of a likeness on the medal. Respecting the authenticated portraits of 
Washington in sculpture, I am aware that in a communication which appears 
in Irving's Life of Washington, already esteemed as a work of the highest 
reliability, a preference is distinctly indicated for the bust executed by 
Caracchi, but although I am not insensible to the beauty of this bust as a 
work of art, yet as a faithful transmission of the features of Washington, 
it cannot, in my view, be permitted to take precedence of the head by Houdon, 
to which on the score of fidelity, I must give the preference over any other 
extant." He then proceeds to relate the following interesting interview 
between Mr. Stuart and himself, occurring in the year, 1825, relating to the 
original head of Washington painted from life, and which was then before 
him on the canvass, and which had always been retained by Mr. Stuart. In 
the course of the conversation, Mr. Stuart said, "He came to this country for 
the purpose of painting Washington. He turned to Mr. Longacre, remarking, 
'you are acquainted with Houdon's bust, I presume?' Mr. Longacre replied 
that he was, and that it was the head par excellence, that he had always 
preferred as his ideal of the Great Original. "You are right, said Mr. Stuart, 



60 Presentation of a Copy of Houdons Statue 

Houdon took a cast from his face," requesting Mr. Longacre at the same time 
to recall the proportions of Houdon's work as a test of the correctness of the 
head then before him. Mr. Longacre in speaking of the fact of the cast 
being taken and of its confirmation during a visit to Mount Vernon, by Mrs. 
Washington (mother of the proprietor of the estate), expressed his opinion 
of the vast importance it necessarily attaches to the fidelity of the bust by 
Houdon, and establishes the propriety of regarding it as the standard from 
which subsequent representations of the original in statuary or bas-relief 
should be taken." 

He further states that when a fine copy of the bust from Canova's statue 
of Washington, then at Raleigh, North Carolina, was shown General La Fayette, 
in his presence at Philadelphia, La Fayette remarked, "That as far as con- 
cerned a likeness of Washington, if it were not for the name, it might as 
well be anybody's else." While of Houdon's statue in the State Capitol at 
Richmond, to the State Librarian he pronounced it "a facsimile of Washing- 
ton's person." Numerous coins, medals and medallets of Washington, bear- 
ing his efligy, were struck before the year 1796, and many representations 
of him were made by sculptors and painters, each differing from the other, 
and all claiming to be true likenesses. Of these the portraits of Peale and 
Trumbull were the most popular, until the execution of the two celebrated 
portraits of Washington by Gilbert Stuart, the last receiving the finishing 
touches in 1796, about the time of the reception at Richmond of the Houdon 
statue. Authors, artists, and critics united in paeans to these famous por- 
traits of Stuart, claiming for them, not only excellence as works of arts, but 
superiority as similitudes of Washington and, by prefixing them to their 
woi*ks, popularized them as the true likeness. Such was their reputation that 
Heath, of London, copied them as the best likeness of the original, and, by 
the multiplication of his copies, familiarized Europe with the head and face 
of Washington, as delineated by Stuart. It seems almost incredible, that 
nearly thirty years should have elapsed after the completion of the Houdon 
statue before its true character was understood; and that ideality should 
have been predicated of a statue distinguished by so many proofs of an 
imitation of nature is intelligible only on the hypothesis that its history was 
not thoroughly known. 

Justice, although tardy, will not forget that Stuart, while justly proud 
of his own work, rejected honors not his own, and taking the chaplet due 
to another, which partial friends had bound around his brow, placed it on the 
head of Houdon. 

The magnanimous and just declaration of Gilbert Stuart, the rival of all 
artists, as to the true delineation of Washington, that the Houdon bust is 
par excellence the true likeness, so graphically related by Mr. Longacre, 
should be accepted by the most skeptical, as conclusive evidence of the 
superiority of this statue as a likeness over all other delineations of Wash- 
ington. The commemorative medal, belonging as it does to a most valuable 
and interesting department of history and art, deposited in the cabinet of 
medals at the National Capitol, and accessible to the curious, will indicate by 
comparison similitude in all of its gradations to the perfect likeness. Art 
will now have its recognized standard, and history its authenticated and un- 
questioned record; and science may approach this statue as it did the living 



of Washington to the People of France 6i 

man, to enquire the form and measurements of the person which manifested 
such intellectual and moral phenomena, and the relations of material shape 
to a character which has no parallel in history. The world is much indebted 
to Mr. Snowden, director of the mint, and to Mr. Longacre, so eminent for 
critical skill in this department of art, and to Mr. Lossing for their vindica- 
tion of the Houdon statue, as the only exact likeness of Washington. 

No American work has contributed more to popularize the Stuart head 
as the standard likeness of Washington, than Irving's Life of that illustrious 
man, and this clearly contrary to the text and purpose of the author who 
singled out from the numerous effiges of Washington the statue by Houdon, 
as the only one worthy of mention, yet the publishers of that distinguished 
work, under the sanction of names eminent in art and letters, have thought 
proper to present in their appendices other portraits than that of Houdon 
as the standard likeness. 

Irving's Life of Washington unites the accessory aids of illustration and 
adornment; these are not only legitimate, but commendable, save when they 
impress the world with error as to the character or person of Washington. 
An edition of this work, surpassing in magnificence any American biography, 
has been recently published, in which the wrong to the Houdon statue, pointed 
out by Mr. Longacre, is perpetuated. In such a work, the ideal and beautiful 
overrule, "realistic delineation, and the truth of history," and art and letters 
in their highest seats delude instead of indicating the exact likeness. 

When it is observed in the learned and comprehensive work of Lubke, 
probably the most influential and authoritative of all the modern works on 
sculpture, that while the name of Houdon is mentioned, with marked distinc- 
tion, the statue of Washington is entirely omitted, we cannot fail to trace 
the effect of the neglect and injustice of American authors, artists, critics 
and publishers, in relation to this statue. 

Virginia recognizes her obligation to furnish to the world the evidence 
at her command that this statue is the only exact representation of the person 
of Washington which exists, and therefore the only standard likeness; and 
that as a work of art, its excellence proves that it was wrought by the hand 
of a master whose name is worthy of a high place on the roll of sculptors, 
and the statue, a distinguished place in the temple of plastic art. 

While this statue derives its chief interest from its similitude to Wash- 
ington, as a work of art it is of the highest order, and its growing fame is 
destined to make the city which contains it the Cnidos of the World. 
******** 

Our country regards the name and fame of Washington as national prop- 
erty. Virginia claims a special share in this heritage; but the world asserts 
the right to pay homage and honor to this, the greatest of all earthly names. 
One of the most eminent of statesmen and philosophers of another land, the 
late Lord Brougham, has declared, "It will be the duty of the historian and 
sage of all nations to let no occasion pass of commemorating this illustrious 
man, and until time shall be no more, will a test of the progress which our 
race has made in wisdom and virtue be derived from the veneration paid to 
the immortal name of Washington." 

Gratitude and affection prompted Virginia to errect this statue as a per- 
fect likeness of the original, and place it in her new temple of freedom. It 



(32 Presentation of a Copy of Houdon's Statue 

is now and will be yet more the object of affection and interest with the wise 
and good of all nationalties, and its preservation, until "time shall be no 
more," is a sacred duty which its priceless value imposes. 



APPENDIX III. 



An Act for the Naturalization of the Marquis de La Fayette, 
Passed October 16, 1785 

Whereas, The Marquis de La Fayette is eminently distinguished by 
early and signal exertions in defence of American liberty and 

Whereas, This illustrious nobleman continues to afford testimonies of 
increasing affection to this State, and the General Assembly being solicitous 
to bestow the most decisive mark of regard which a Republic can give, 

Be it enacted. That the Marquis de La Fayette be henceforth deemed and 
considered a citizen of this State and that he shall enjoy all the rights, 
privileges and immunities thereunto belonging. 



APPENDIX IV. 



Resolution Requesting the Executive to Have Two Busts 
of the Marquis de La Fayette Made in Paris 

In the House of Delegates, the 1st of Decem'ber, 1784. 

Whereas, It was unanimously resolved, on the 17th day of December, 
1781, that a bust of the Marquis de La Fayette be directed to be made in Paris 
of the best marble employed for such purposes, with the following inscrip- 
tion: 

"This bust was voted on the 17th day of December, 1781, by the General 
Assembly of the State of Virginia, to the honorable the Marquis De LaFayette 
(major-general in the service of the United States of America, and late com- 
mander-in-chief of the army of the United States in Virginia) as a lasting 
monument of his merit and their gratitude." 

Resolved, unanimously. That the Governor, with the advice of the council, 
be authorized and desired to defray the expense of carrying the said vote 



of Washington to the People of France 63 



into execution out of the fund allotted for the contingencies of government; 
that he cause the said bust to be presented in the name of this Common- 
wealth to the city of Paris, with a request that the same be accepted and 
preserved in some public place of the said city. 

Resolved, unanimously, That as a further mark of the lasting esteem of 
this Commonwealth for the illustrious qualities and services of the Marquis 
de La Fayette, the Governor, with the advice of the Council, be authorized and 
desired to cause another bust of him, with a similar inscription, to be pro- 
cured by draught on the said fund, and that the same, when procured, be 
fixed in such public place at the seat of government as may hereafter be 
appointed for the erection of the statue voted by the General Assembly to 
General Washington. 

(Teste) JOHN BECKLEY, C. H. D. 

1784, Dec. 13th, 

Agreed to by the Senate. 

Will. Dkew, C. S. 



APPENDIX V. 



The following are some of the courteous exchanges of an official or quasi 
official nature which have taken place between the people of the United 
States and France since the Revolutionary War: 

1. In December, 1784, Virginia having previously voted a bust to La 
Fayette, the General Assembly unanimously passed a resolution providing 
that two busts of that distinguished Frenchman "be made in Paris of the 
best marble employed for such purposes," one "to be presented in the name 
of the Commonwealth to the city of Paris, with a request that the same 
may be accepted and preserved in some public place of the said city," and 
the other to be "fixed in such public place at the seat of government as may 
hereafter be appointed for the erection of the statue voted by the General 
Assembly to General Washington." These busts were made by Houdon. The 
former was presented to the city of Paris and placed in the Hotel de Ville, 
and was destroyed by the General Assembly of the commissioners from the 
forty-eight sections of the Commune of Paris on August 10, 1792, along with 
Houdon's busts of Louis XVI, Necker and Bailly. The latter now stands in 
the rotunda of the Capitol at Richmond, near the statue of Washington. 

2. In 1794 the Minister of the United States at Paris, by direction of 
our government, presented to the National Convention a set of our colors. 
Delmas, a member of the Committee of Public Safety, in a letter to the 
"Citizen Representatives" of the United States, expressing the thanks of 
the convention, said: "The colours of both nations, united in the center 



64 Presentation of a Copy of Houdons Statue 

of the National Convention, will be an everlasting evidence of the part which 
the United States have taken in the succession of the French Republick." 

3. On January 1, 1796, the "Citizen Adet, Minister Plenipotentiary of 
the French Republick," presented to the United States through President 
Washington, on behalf of the National Convention of France, a set of French 
colors. Washington, in his speech of acceptance, said: "The colors will 
be deposited with those archives of the United States, which are at once 
the evidences and memorials of their freedom and independence." 

4. In 1823 the citizens of France, by national subscription, presented to 
the United States a bust of Washington by the famous sculptor, David of 
Angers. This bust was destroyed by the fire which consumed the Library 
of Congress in 1851. 

5. In 1829 David presented to the United States a bust of La Fayette, 
executed by himself, requesting that it "might be set up in the Hall of Con- 
gress, near the monument erected to Washington." This also was destroyed 
in the fire of 1851. 

6. In 1885 the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World, by Bartholdi, 
was presented by the people of France to the people of the United States, 
and was received on behalf of the latter by the President. 

7. About the year 1892 a statue of La Fayette was erected in the city of 
Washington, with appropriate ceremonies, at the southeast corner of La 
Fayette Square, opposite the White House, pursuant to an act of Congress. 

8. In 1895 a group statue of Washington and La Fayette, by Bartholdi, 
was erected in Paris by a number of American gentlemen. 

9. In 1900 the women of the United States presented to France an 
equestrian statue of Washington, by French and Potter. Erected in Paris. 

10. On July 4, 1900, there was unveiled in Paris a statue of La Fayette, 
by Bartlett, provided by the contributions of the school children of the 
United States. 

11. May 24, 1902, there was unveiled in Washington, at the southwest 
corner of La Fayette Square, with great ceremony, pursuant to an act of 
Congress, a statue of the Comte de Rochambeau. A large deputation came 
over from France as the guests of the United States, among them the present 
Comte de Rochambeau and Sahune de La Fayette, a descendant of the gene- 
ral; General Brugere, the commander-in-chief of the French Army, and 
Admiral Fournier. 

12. In 1903 Congress purchased and caused to be placed in the rotunda 
of the Capitol a bust of La Fayette, which had been executed by David for 
Mr. Charles Manigault, of Charleston, S. C. This was a replica of the bust 
destroyed in the fire of 1851. 

13. On April 24, 1904, there was placed in the rotunda of the Capitol, 



of Washington to the People of France 65 



v.'ith appropriate ceremonies, a bronze reproduction of an original bust of 
Washington, preserved at the Musee David at Angers. This gift was the 
result of a subscription headed by Comte de Rochambeau, Marquis de La 
Fayette and Marquis de Grasse, and was intended to replace the bust which 
had been destroyed in the fire of 1851. 

14. In 1903 Congress caused to be printed, under the title, "Les Com- 
battants Francais de la Guerre Americaine, 1778-1783," an indexed list of 
all the French officers, soldiers and sailors who participated in the American 
Revolution, numbering in all 47,989. 

15. By act of the General Assembly of Virginia, adopted in October, 
1785, La Fayette was made a citizen of Virginia. He was also made a citizen 
of Maryland by act of the legislature of that State. 

16. On August 24, 1792, the first year of the French Republic, Washing- 
ton was, by public decree, proclaimed a citizen of France. Upon his death 
the highest honors were paid to his memory. 

17. When La Fayette died in 1834, the president communicated the sad 
news to the people by special proclamation, and ordered that "the same honors 
be rendered on this occasion at the different military and naval stations as 
were observed upon the decease of Washington, the Father of his Country." 
The halls of both houses of Congress were draped in mourning, and the badge 
of sorrow was worn by the members for thirty days. 



I 






-1 \9i«^ 



